Shadowchasers: Harbinger
by Ruin Queen of Oblivion
Summary: The Shadowchasers of Paradise City are faced with a difficult situation as an old enemy comes after them. The problem is that they are in league with a dangerous enemy, and the Shadowchasers must now face off against the Harbinger of the Apocalypse.
1. Hero Spirit

_Well, this is something that I recently came up with, and admittedly this is kind of an interesting challenge._

 _Yeah, I'm back and ready to try my hand at writing Shadowchasers again. I've spent over a year writing an epic story and watched Arc-V, so I think I can probably pull this off._

 _Yeah, this is as far as I can tell a first, we're moving into the era of Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V for Shadowchasers. So what will all of this mean for the story as we know it? What about the way Arc-V works will that come into play?_

 _Well, wait no longer, I've had a few ideas for how it all works, and I'm sure we can figure it out together._

 _So, lets begin._

 _Disclaimer: As before, I still only own what I created._

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 **PROLOGUE:**

 **DIMENSION DISTORTION**

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The Origin Universe, the main base of operations for Morgana's Kin, a universe said to be at the exact center of the multiverse (though this is up for debate). In addition to being one of the largest suppositories of knowledge in the multiverse, its numerous inhabited words include labs and methods of studying ecosystems.

One such world is Niariad, a tropical planet that is often used as a recreation area for members of Morgana's Kin. One popular destination is the Duel Monsters arenas where they can face off against advanced dueling AIs to test their abilities.

And that's what one member is doing there on this particular day.

"I'll banish my Kozmo Strawman to special summon my Kozmo Dark Eclipser!" A woman with short black hair that was dressed in a leather jacket over a blue t-shirt and jeans said as the lanky machine vanished only to be replaced with a massive black spaceship with red lights along it and two large wings and a section that jutted out of the stern (3000/2600). "Now, attack directly with Turbolaser Barrage!"

The ship above pointed its cannons down towards a holographic woman that flickered for a moment before she pointed forward. "I activate the trap card Quaking Mirror Force!" she countered as her trap flipped up and a shield appeared in front of her.

"I activate Dark Eclipser's effect, by banishing the Kozmo Soartroopers in my graveyard..." the first woman said as a card slid out of her disk. "I can negate your trap card."

The barrier in front of the hologram shattered as the lasers hit her and she covered her face as the dust faded.

"Well done subject, Quin Lamont," the hologram said with a smile as she took a bow and the black haired woman bowed back. "Final score, 85%."

"Not bad," a voice said from behind Quin and she smiled when she turned to see an older woman with long red hair and dressed smartly in a buttoned up shirt and long skirt with a long white coat over it. "You've improved since I first took you on as an apprentice."

"Thanks Leslie," Quin said with a smile as she gave the older woman a nod.

Quin Lamont had been the apprentice of Leslie Garrett up until recently when she had graduated. She had come from one of the split dimensions from the main universe that Leslie had been tasked with watching as the Morgana's Kin representative in the Shadowchasers.

Quin was just the newest in a long line of members of the organization that worked with the Shadowchasers. She was still getting used to it honestly, but Leslie had taught her well.

"So, what brings you back to the Origin Universe?" Leslie asked as she looked at Quin curiously. "You don't come here very often."

"Eh, my AI system is down and I needed to look into something for Judy anyway," Quin said as she deactivated her duel disk. "I think my Kozmo deck is just about ready, maybe I should get some more psychic support."

"Do you mind?" Leslie asked as she offered her hand and Quin took her deck out and gave it to her former teacher. "Hmm, interesting, Kozmo monsters are tricky, but you seem to have an idea of what you're doing here."

"Yeah, I really like them," Quin said as Leslie gave her deck back before she took two cards out of her pocket.

"Here, these might help you," she said as Quin looked at them curiously.

"What are these?" Quin asked. "I've never seen cards like these before."

"Trust me, they'll help if you need them," Leslie said and Quin nodded before she started to walk back to the arena. "Celeste, activate duel program level..."

She was cut off when the screen on her duel disk suddenly started flashing and she looked at it surprised. It was a secondary alert system built into their systems when they were needed.

She pressed a button on the screen and a woman with long white hair and dressed in an elaborate outfit appeared on the screen. She recognized her as Alexandra Veidt, the leader of the High Council.

"This is Quin Lamont, what's going on?"

"Quin, we have a situation," Alexandra replied. "I need you and Leslie to report to Tartarus Station immediately."

"Tartarus Station but that's..." Quin said and looked at Leslie.

"The observation point for the prison planes, yes..." Alexandra said. "You'll understand when you get here, but its urgent. We don't need to cause a panic right now."

Quin and Leslie exchanged a look before they nodded. "We'll be there immediately," Leslie said.

Alexandra nodded as Leslie held a hand up and a portal formed in front of them. The two women exchanged a look as if trying to figure out what might be on the other side before they walked through it.

They just had to hope that this wasn't going to end badly.

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The Tartarus Station was a facility that had been constructed to keep an eye on high profile prisons. A running joke in Morgana's Kin was that it was where you got sent if you screwed up really badly, but actually the women who worked there were well paid and well regarded.

They had to be given that they were often the first warning if a deity was about to escape from their prison.

"Madam Councilwoman," Leslie said with a bow of her head as they entered the monitoring station and saw Alexandra standing there. "What's going on?"

"We're getting an unusual amount of activity from the Standard Dimension," Alexandra said as she turned to look at them. "Specifically, there's energy flowing into one of the prison planes from it and part of the Abyss."

"Odd," Quin said. "The Standard Dimension has mostly been quiet in terms of inter-dimensional activity lately. Well, at least Shadow or Divine related activity."

"Well, it seems like that's changed," Alexandra said and looked worried. "We're going to have to investigate this, especially given the Abyssal connection."

There was a long pause as the woman stood there a moment. They all knew there was one lingering question. The prisons monitored by Tartarus Station were where the most dangerous of gods were trapped away by other gods. Any one of them being released would be bad enough, but none of them wanted to ask the question.

"Which, prison is it?" Quin finally asked.

"Tharizdun's," Alexandra said simply.

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 **SHADOWCHASERS:**

 **HARBINGER**

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 **AN ARC-V SHADOWCHASERS FIC BY**

 **RUIN QUEEN OF OBLIVION**

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 **CHAPTER 1:**

 **HERO SPIRIT**

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 _ **Welcome to Paradise City, the city where action duels took off, and most recently, became the center of attention once more because of a whole new style of dueling called Pendulum Summoning.**_

 _ **Its, been an interesting few days in the city ever since Yuya Sakaki defeated the Sledgehammer in a duel. Most of the duelists in the city were a buzz about the new Pendulum summoning and wondering how exactly it was supposed to work.**_

 _ **But me? Well, I admit I was curious but I had more important things to deal with, I mean my job is to duel but its not like any of us really know anything about Pendulum summoning or will have to face it.**_

 _ **So, what was I doing right then? What I did every other day really, I was on patrol in Paradise City.**_

 _ **My name is Eva Roman, and I'm a Shadowchaser.**_

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A small shadow moved through the front lobby to the Leo Corporation. They paused a moment as a security guard went past them as they hid in the shadows before they quickly moved forward again.

After a few minutes they reached their intended destination and pushed the door open. They looked around carefully before they slipped inside and took out a small device, using it to turn off the local security as they headed for a computer on the desk nearby and started typing.

That's when the lights turned on and the figure nearly jumped out of their skin. They were short and at first glance would be mistaken for a human, but the woman standing opposite them knew better.

"Metais, I see you're trying this again," she said and crossed her arms as she looked at the gnome.

She was a taller woman with long dirty blonde hair tied into a braid. She was dressed in a red tank top and blue jeans with a silver colored coat over it. She smirked a little as she saw the Gnome. "Still trying to work on your fancy new duel disk?"

"I'll make it work, I just need access to..." Metais said.

"Yeah, I know, you need access to Leo Corporation's files on ARC," the woman said with a shake of her head. "Look, its not a bad idea, make action duels accessable anywhere, but you shouldn't break the law to do it."

"I can't afford to buy a system and no one will let me get access to their's," Metais said with a shake of his head. "So what are you going to do Ms. Roman? You're just as bound by the rules as I am."

Eva Roman shook her head and took out a duel disk before she activated it and the disk formed in front of her. "You really need to learn a better way to do this."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Metais said as he activated his own duel disk. "Lets duel then."

 **(Eva: 8000) - (Metais: 8000)**

"I'll go first," Eva said as she drew her opening hand. "And I'll start with my Foolish Burial spell card, so I can send one of my monsters from my deck to my graveyard."

"Still using zombies huh?" Metais said as Eva took a card from her deck and put it in the slot in her disk.

"You'll see what I have in mind, for now I'll set one card face down and summon Mezuki in attack mode!" She said and a demon appeared in front of her with a horse head and wielding an axe.

"You know I never understood why that guy was a zombie," Metais said with a frown.

Eva was about to say something but she didn't have an answer to why either. "I'll end my turn there, lets see what you can do."

Metais drew a card and looked at it for a moment before he selected another card. "I'll set this monster in defense mode and set two more cards face down," he said and a horizontal card appeared in front of him followed by two face down cards.

"Not much I see," Eva said, though she was worried about what those face down cards would be.

"I'll end my turn there," the Gnome finished.

"My draw," Eva said as she drew her next card and looked at her hand. _Okay, I've got something that can work here, but I just have to make sure that he doesn't destroy the monster I need first._

"So, what are you going do do now?" Metais asked with a smirk.

"I'll set one monster in defense mode, and attack your face down monster with Mezuki!" Eva said as a horizontal monster appeared in front of her before the horse headed demon ran forward and slammed his axe down on the face-down card.

Only to be met with a metallic clang and thrown back by what looked like a cement mixer. Only this one had eyes and what looked like the image of polymerization on the side (0/2200).

"Is that, a cement mixer? Eva asked and blinked in surprise.

"That was my Mixeroid, and its defense is a bit too high for your Mezuki to break through," Metais said. "Is there anything else you want to do?"

 _Vehicroids, that figures, they'll start out weak but if he has any of the fusion monsters I might be in trouble,_ Eva thought as she looked her hand over for a moment, there was nothing new she could do. "I end my turn there."

 **(E: 7500) - (M: 8000)**

Metais drew his next card and smirked as he set it on his disk and a blue and yellow submarine appeared in front of him with two eyes and arms (800/1800). "I summon my Submarineroid in attack mode."

"Crap..." Eva said and flinched a little.

"I take it then you know how my monster works, now attack her with Subterranean Sneak Attack!" Metais ordered as the submarine dove into the floor and fired a torpedo at Eva which exploded.

"You know... there's something I never understood about that," Eva said as she got to her feet. "Its not really a sneak attack, you're telling me its attacking."

"Well, you see... never mind," Metais said as he switched the card horizontal and the submarine crossed its arms to protect itself. "Since Submarineroid attacked you directly I can switch it to defense mode."

 _Fortunately, I have just what I need to get past both of them,_ Eva thought to herself as she looked at her hand.

"And with that I end my turn," Metais finished as he looked his hand over and nodded.

 **(E: 6700) - (M: 8000)**

"Then its my draw!" Eva said as she drew her next card. "I normal summon my Shiranui Solitare!"

A ghostly howl sounded as a man appeared in front of Eva. He was dressed in robes with a vest and orbs over it, he had long brown hair and held a staff out in front of him (500/0).

"A Shiranui monster?" Metais asked.

"That's right, my deck is filled with them," Eva said as she looked down at her duel disk. "The Shiranui are more than just your average zombie deck, and I'm going to show you just what I mean. I activate Shiranui Solitare's special ability!"

The ghostly spellcaster started to chant before he vanished and a new ghostly howl was heard as a flame appared in front of Eva. A flaming sword appeared with a spectral figure with long light purple hair and dressed in an armor robe behind it (800/0).

"Its still not strong enough to do the job," Metais said, but he had a bad feeling about this.

"It doesn't matter, my Spectralsword is a Tuner monster," Eva said with a smirk. "And I'll tune Spectralsword and Pyramid Turtle together."

The two monsters flew up and rings formed around Pyramid Turtle as light flew into it.

"Force from beyond the grave, spirits of the unknown flame, come together to create a new force to bear on our foes."

 **(2* + 4* = 6*)**

"Synchro Summon, Shiranui Samuraisaga!"

The monster that appeared had black hair tied into a ponytail. He was dressed like a samurai warrior with red and black clothes as he drew his sword as white flames danced over it (2500/0).

"Now Shiranui Samuraisaga, take out his Sumbarineroid with Burning Sword!" Eva commanded as the samurai ran forward and held his sword high as he prepared to attack.

"I activate Supercharge, since you attacked while I only have roid monsters, I can draw two cards!" Metais said as he drew two cards while the sword connected with the Submarine and it shattered.

"Too bad your monster is still destroyed," Eva said and looked at her hand and then her face down card. "I'll end my turn there."

Metais drew his next card and looked at it before he slid it into his duel disk. "I'll set this card and set a monster in defense mode!" He said and two cards appeared in front of him. "And I'll activate my field spell, Megaroid City!"

The room around them changed as a towering building appeared behind them. It looked like some sort of port building with roads and tubes jutting out from it. He smirked a little as he looked at the cards in his hand again.

 _Great, this could be trouble,_ Eva said as she looked her hand over and then back up at the large building. _I better deal with this quickly, he's probably got something big planned right now._

"Next, I'll switch Mixeroid into attack mode!" Metais continued as the living cement mixer switched into attack mode. "Now Mixeroid attack Mezuki with Mix-Up Punch!"

The machine let out a honk before it rolled forward and swung its tire at the horse-headed demon.

"Mezuki, fight back!" Eva said in surprise as Mezuki swung his axe at Mixeroid but Metais just discarded a card from his deck and the machine punched through Mezuki. "What? How did you..."

"My field spell, by discarding a Vehicroid from my deck, I switched the attack and defense of my monster," Metais said as he smirked. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(E: 6200) - (M: 8000)**

"You just made a big mistake," Eva said as she drew her next card. "First, I start out with my Samurai Skull in attack mode!"

There was a ghostly laugh as a grinning skull appeared in front of her with big teeth and a long tongue. It was wearing a samurai helmet and laughed as it floated there (1700/0).

"And when my Skull is summoned, I can take a zombie from my deck and send it to the graveyard," she said and picked up her deck before she picked a card and slid it into her graveyard. "Think of him like a monster version of Foolish Burial."

"Your zombies are getting creepier and creepier," Metais said as Eva put her deck back in the slot. "I don't get why you even use them, they're not exactly what I'd expect from a Shadowchaser."

Eva looked down at her deck, she had her own reasons for using zombies. She wasn't about to tell him those reasons, but she used them to remember someone, someone she had lost who was a zombie duelist.

She sighed a little and shook her head, that was not something she needed to dwell on right now. Her deck was her own, even if she had been inspired by someone, she had built it on her own.

And that was enough to keep her going.

"That's my business," she said and hit a button on her duel disk. "I'm activating the special ability of my Mezuki, by banishing it I can bring back one zombie from my graveyard."

"So? You don't have anything too powerful in there," Metais commented. "Unless..."

"Unless I'm bringing back the monster I discarded for my Foolish Burial, and I'll bring back one of the strongest monsters in my main deck!" Eva said as she took Mezuki's card out and pocketed. "So welcome to the field, Despair From the Dark!"

The monster that appeared was a spectral zombie that was partially black with horns with reddish-orange flames and long purple claws (2800/3000).

"Now Shiranui Samuraisaga, attack his Mixeroid with Burning Sword!" Eva commanded as the samurai ran forward and held his blade aloft. Suddenly the mixeroid knelt in defense mode and the sword slashed through it. "What?"

"I activated my Desert Sunlight trap card, which switched it to defense mode," Metais explained.

"Fine, I'll take out your face down monster then with Samurai Skull!" Eva said as the skull sent a fireball at the face down card, only to have it bounce off of a small helicopter. "Okay, this is getting annoying."

"You could just give up," Metais said.

"I think I'll pass, Despair From the Dark, take out his Gyroid with Darkness Rend!" Eva said as the spectral monster pushed forward and slashed at the helicopter as it shattered. "I end my turn there."

Metais drew his next card and smirked a little. "I summon my Truckroid in attack mode!" He said and an 18 wheeler appeared in front of him with the same eyes as the other Vehicroids (1000/2000).

"Let me guess, you're going to attack and use your field's effect again," Eva said with a frown as she crossed her arms. "Your monster better have one heck of a special effect."

 _Really I just need to stall long enough to get the big guy out,_ Metais thought as he looked at the two cards left in his hand. "Alright, I'll attack your Skull with Truckroid, 18 Wheeler Pummel!"

The truck rolled forward and its forward wheels started to spin as it swung at the skull.

"And as you predicted, I'll discard this monster from my deck to switch its attack and defense points," Metais said as his monster's attack rose to 2000 as its attack connected and the skull shattered. "And that's not all, your skull gets equipped to my Truckroid!"

The back of the truck opened and the skull flew into it as the truck took on more of a skeletal look with the helmet appearing on its cab and its attack rose to 2700.

"Okay, that's definitely not good," Eva said as she looked at her hand. "But its still too weak to defeat my Despair From the Dark."

"I know, but as long as my field is active it doesn't matter," Metais pointed out. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(E: 5900) - (M: 8000)**

"Alright, its my turn!" Eva said as she drew her next card. "And I'll summon my Shutendoji in attack mode!"

A red skinned oni appeared in front of her with wild yellow hair and spiked armor. He was carrying a large jug that he took a drink of and smiled wickedly (1500/800).

"Great, another Yokai," Metais said.

"You know it, these guys have really useful effects for a Shiranui deck, for example I'll use his effect and banish two cards from my graveyard and draw a card," Eva said as she took two cards out of her graveyard that she showed as Shiranui Spectralsword and Shiranui Solitare before she drew another card. "And I get to return one of my banished Shiranui monsters, so welcome back Shiranui Spectralsword!"

The sword wielding ghost appeared in defense mode.

"Now, I'll play the card I drew, my Twin Twisters!" Eva said as she put the two cards into the slot as two tornadoes shot out.

"NO!" Metais shouted.

"That's right, so I can destroy both your field spell and my Samurai Skull!" Eva said as the field shattered and the truck returned to normal as its attack fell back down to 1000. "Now you're up first Shutendoji, attack that Truckroid with Sake Rage!"

The Yokai took a long drink and let out a roar as energy flew into his claws. He rushed forward and slashed at the living truck and it shattered with a beep.

"Now its your turn Despair From the Dark and Samuraisaga, attack him directly!" Eva said as her monsters ran forward and slashed at Metais who fell back from the attack. "And that's it for my turn."

 _I just hope that I can deal with whatever he has planned,_ she thought as she looked at her hand. _If I'm lucky, I'll win this duel on my next turn, but there's no way I'll be that lucky._

 **(E: 5900) - (M: 2200)**

Metais drew his next card and laughed as he put it into his disk and the city appeared around them agian. "I drew my second copy of Megaroid City!"

"Great..." Eva said. "What are you going to do with it though?"

"You'll see, first I summon Expressroid!" He said as a train appeared with eyes appeared in front of him (400/1600) and two cards slipped out of his disk. "I now get to add two Vehicroids from my graeyard to my hand. I'll choose my Submarineroid and the Steamroid I sent to my graveyard before."

 _Okay, that's not good, I know what he can do with those two monsters,_ Eva thought.

"Now I activate the ability of my Megaroid City, so I can destroy my expressroid..." Metais said as the living train shattered as he took a card out of his deck. "And I can add a monster to my hand. And I'll add my Vehicroid Connection Zone!"

"Oh crap..." Eva said.

"Then you know what this means, I fuse together Submarineroid, Steamroid, and Drillroid!" Metais said as the Submarine, a living train, and a large monster with a drill on its face appeared and went into a vortex. "Machines crafted by mortal hands, come together to form a force beyond compare!"

A monster appeared in front of him, it at first resembled a submarine but it also had treads and a massive drill with claws and tank treads. It glared down at Eva who took a step back with her monsters (3000/2000).

"Welcome to the field, Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill!" Metais said and smirked. "And I'm not done yet."

"What else are you going to do?" Eva asked with a gulp.

"I'm using Mixeroid's effect, I can banish it and 4 other Vehicroids to summon a level 5 Fusion monster," Metais said as the monsters appeared and flew into the Mixer. There was a moment as they waited to see what happened and it vanished in a flash of light, replaced with a living tandem bike (1600/1200). "And that gives me my Pair Cycroid. Now, Jumbo Drill, attack her Spectralsword with Drill Destruction!"

The giant machine dug underground and started to dig forward towards Eva's side of the field.

"I activate my trap card, Shiranui Style Samsara, so I can banish..." Eva started.

"Sorry, I activate my trap card Emergeroid Call which stops your trap and sends any other copies you have to the graveyard!" Metais countered as the trap shattered and he took a card out of his graveyard. "Which means my attack goes through!"

The giant machine came out of the ground and the swordmaster shattered and hit Eva.

"And that deals trampling damage, now I'll attack you directly with my Pair Cycroid!" Metais said as the bike sped forward and hit Eva and sent her sprawled over. "And I'll end my turn, which means my Pair Cycroid leaves. Its your move."

The living bike shattered into pieces.

 **(E: 1300) - (M: 2200)**

Eva drew a card and flinched. _Well, this will at least stall for time, but with that effect I'm going to lose life points eventually,_ she thought as she looked her hand over and then back at her monsters, she had an idea.

"Are you going to make a move?" Metais asked.

"I'll set one card face down and switch Despair From the Dark to defense mode," she said as the spectral monster knelt in defense mode. "I'll end my turn there."

"Then I'll end this now!" Metais said as he drew his next card. "Perfect, I'll make this even better by playing Limiter Removal!"

Eva looked up passively as the massive machine glowed with energy and then grew even larger and its attack rose to 6000.

"Now, take out that Samuraisaga with Super Drill Destruction!" Metais said as the machine went underground again and headed for the Samurai.

"Go trap card!" Eva said just as the dust was thrown up from the attack.

"I win," Metais said with a smirk, as the dust faded however Eva was still standing there with a trap face-up. "What? You activated a trap card?"

"My Defense Draw to be exact, which means I can draw a card," Eva said as she drew a card. "And this duel isn't over yet!"

"Yeah, yeah," Metais said. "I end my turn, and thanks to my Vehicroid Connection Zone my monster isn't destroyed by Limiter Removal."

The machine returned to its normal size as its attack fell back to 3000.

"But you still have to get around it," he said with a smirk. "I know that's not going to be easy with a zombie deck."

"Don't be so sure, I'm going to end this now!" Eva said as she drew her next card and smiled a little. "It doesn't matter what I drew though, because I can activate the effect of my Spectralsword in my graveyard. By banishing it and another zombie, I can synchro summon a monster. So I'll banish, my Samuraisaga!"

Metais' eyes went wide as he took a step back as the two monsters appeared above Eva.

"Lord of the undead, master of the secret flames, appear before us in this game!"

 **(2* + 6* = 8*)**

The monster that descended was a man dressed in elaborate white, purple, and red robes. His face was covered with a mask and in one hand he carried a flaming sword and in the other he carried a hilt made of flames (3000/0).

"My Shiranui Shogunsaga!" Eva said with a smile. "And I can activate two effects. First I can banish one monster to increase my Shogun's attack, and also my Samuraisaga I banished lowers your monster's attack by 500!"

First the samurai appeared and ran forward and flew into the giant machine as its attack fell to 2500. Then a card slid out of Eva's disk and a skeletal undead dragon appeared behind her.

"That's, Berserk Dragon!" Metais said in shock.

"That's right, I sent it with Samurai Skull's effect, he's one of the most powerful zombies in the game so I use him to power Shogunsaga!" Eva said as the dragon's spirit flew into Shogunsaga and its attack rose to 6500. "Now Shogunsaga..."

"No, no!" Metais said. "I was so close!"

"Attack his Jumbo Drill with Slash of the Sacred Flames!" Eva said as the Shogun ran forward and slashed at the Drill with both its weapons and the massive monster creaked before it shattered, sending Metais flying back.

 **(E: 1300) - (M: 0)**

"Come on, that's not fair..." Metais said.

"Sorry, but its over," Eva said as she took out a jewel and held it up as Metais vanished in a flash.

She gathered up her cards and walked out, she just had to hope that she wouldn't run into security.

 **00000**

"So, did you stop Metais?" A woman with short white hair dressed in a buttoned up shirt and long skirt asked as Eva walked in.

"Yeah, no real problem there, he put up a challenge though," Eva said as she stretched a little and sat down on the couch in the Shadowchasers HQ. "Thanks for the tip back there Charlie, I just wish he'd try to do this legally."

"Well, it was better than the alternative," Charlotte Vaughn, better known as Charlie said as she gave her a nod. "The problem however is that while you were busy, someone else broke into the files."

"Wait, what?" Eva asked and jumped up.

"Yes, we think that Metais may have been a diversion," Charlie said with a shake of her head as she pressed a button on her duel disk and transferred a file over to Eva. "This is the security footage from the heist."

Eva opened it up and blinked when she saw a vortex appear as a woman that was hidden by shadows stepped out. She went over to a computer console and started to type at it, taking out what looked like a card and holding it up.

"I call upon the Electric Virus!" She said in a voice with a slight british accent as a monster that looked like it was made of electricity appeared and flew into the computer.

After a few minutes she finished what she was doing and picked out a jump drive and returned to the portal which closed behind her.

"Who was that?" Eva asked as she looked at Charlie.

"We have no idea, not helped by the fact that she escaped," Charlie said with a shake of her head. "We'll have to keep an eye out if its Shadow related, but for now its out of our jurisdiction."

"Right, well I have a call to make," Eva said and started towards her bedroom.

"Calling your girlfriend huh?" Charlie asked and Eva's face turned red as she turned back to look at her.

"She's not my girlfriend, we're just friends!" Eva said and Charlie just laughed as the older Shadowchaser stormed off.

"Right, just keep telling yourself that," she said with a laugh.

 **00000**

 _ **Well, there you have it, finally we have chapter 1 of Harbinger. There's still a bit to do, so I hope you look forward to it.**_

 _ **Next chapter, we meet the third member of the Paradise City Shadowchasers as they go after a criminal that has a deck that puts him at a disadvantage. What happens next? Find out in chapter 2, "Thunder of Ruler."**_

 _ **But we're not quite done yet, I've made a series of files based on organizations that Morgana's Kin has met in the multiverse. You're of course free to use them in Shadowchasers fics or elsewhere.**_

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 **Chapter 1:**

 _ **The Pale Children, Servants of the Mother.**_

 _ **Osilius, Universe SC-1529.**_

Among Demons there are few who have earned more of a reputation, but at the same time been more of an enigma, than Pale Night. The mother of demons who makes her home in the 600th level of the Abyss upon a kingdom of bones.

It is said that she was the one who created Demons as we know them. However whatever her motivations are, she seems to have no interest outside of the Abyss, and as such has little followers in most corners of the multiverse.

The one exception is the planet Osilius in the Universe designated SC-1529, a world that is plunged into endless darkness after its star was consumed by a Star Eater being. How Osilius survived is unknown, but no matter how, it is a world consumed by chaos and madness.

While most of the factions on Osilius presents no real threat, the one exception is the cult known as the Pale Children. Under the Lich-Priest Rannith, the Pale Children follow the will of Pale Night, using things like demonic grafts to grant themselves demonic power with the intention of becoming demons themselves with enough power.

The Pale Children have something that makes them even more dangerous. They have also gained a lot of technological skill including cybernetics, making themselves into deadly mixtures of cybernetics and demonic powers.

What the ultimate intention of the Pale Children is unknown. What worries us however is that unlike most of their followers, the Lich-Priest seems to have direct contact with Pale Night herself, which has lead to some speculation as to the true nature of the Priest and whether or not he may actually be the Mother of Demons' Proxy.

The followers of the Pale Children tend to include Demonologists, Necromancers, and other dangerous spellcasters that can draw on darker powers. They are not to be taken lightly if they are encountered, but for now they have not pushed out of their home universe.

 **Story Ideas:** The Pale Children are for the most part confined to their home universe, but there is always a potential for them to leave it and spread out. Any story involving them would likely involve Pale Night in some way, whether or not she actually grants them power is up to you.

Alternatively it is also possible that Pale Night has no real stake in this. Given that she is suggested to be more or less retired, its possible that there is another Demon Lord manipulating the Pale Children to make them think they are in the service of the Mother of Demons.

If this is the case, well, the sky is truly the limit.

 **Deck Ideas:** As it stands, the Pale Children know nothing about the game of Duel Monsters, but if they ever entered the Shadowchasers universe they would likely adapt as needed. Fiends and Zombies would not be out of the question as well as machines.

As for the Lich-Priest, well, one can only imagine what horrors he'd have waiting in his deck.


	2. Thunder of Ruler

_Alright, well we're right in chapter two, I know that I'm excited to see where this fic goes, I hope you are too._

 _Anyone who was wondering about the woman at the end of chapter 1 that hacked into the Leo Corporation files, well, that's something to be explained later._

 _So, lets begin._

 _Disclaimer: I only own what I made up for this story, which admittedly is more than it was in the last fic I worked on._

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 **CHAPTER 2:**

 **THUNDER OF RULER**

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 _ **While things were pretty normal in Paradise City, we did still have to make sure that we maintained order with the Shadowkind. There are always going to be problems, your occasional thieves and such of course.**_

 _ **At the same time I was taking on Metais, the third member of our group was chasing after a thief. The thing of course is that not everything is always as simple as it seems, especially in this town.**_

 _ **But we had no idea that there was another threat looming on the Horizon. Those who did however, they were still trying to piece things together. But for now, we just continued as normal.**_

 _ **I wonder what we would've done differently if we had known what we know now.**_

 **00000**

Tharizdun.

The very mention of that name is enough to give even the bravest of mortals pause. The mad God had attempted to escape with the help of others on numerous occasions, and everyone who knew that name feared the possibility that he'd go free.

Morgana's Kin had increased their surveilance on the Prison Demi-Plane that contained the mad God. Ever since the defeat of Jalie Squarefoot however, there was little reason to worry beyond the odd attempt at the Doomdreamers that inevitably failed.

Something about this one worried them however, maybe it was the connection to the Abyss, maybe it was just something that gnawed at the women's minds. They were going to have to figure out exactly what was going on and soon.

Before it was too late.

"So, what are we going to do?" Quin asked as she looked between the two more senior members. "I mean if the Standard Dimension is involved and its Tharizdun, the Shadowchasers need to be informed."

"I agree," Leslie said as she crossed her arms. "The Doomdreamers have been quiet since what happened in Chicago. If there's an attempt to break Tharizdun going on from the Standard Dimension, then I have little doubt that they're involved."

"Agreed," Alexandra said and shook her head. "Alright, we'll send word to Judy in the Standard Dimension. We need to find out what the Abyssal connection is, one problem to there being so many layers is that it will probably take awhile to do so."

"Right," Quin said with a sigh. "So, who in the Abyss would actually want to try and free Tharizdun?"

"That's the question isn't it?" Alexandra asked.

Quin nodded as she checked her deck again. If any of them were going into the Abyss, they would have to be ready for it.

 **00000**

"Do you have the goods?" A figure in shadows asked as they looked at a woman who was carrying a briefcase.

"Of course, was there any doubt?" The woman asked as she gave the briefcase over to the man. "I managed to avoid security, the police, and the Shadowchasers. You really should have more faith in my abilities."

"I know, I know," the man said. "Your payment will be in your account tomorrow. You better not tell anyone what you did here, or the next target we go after will be you."

"Of course, discretion is part of the job," the mysterious woman said as she picked up her helmet and put it on. "I'll be going now, if you need another..."

Before she could finish the sentence there was a reving of an engine as a motorcycle came out from around the corner. She jumped on here own bike as she grabbed another briefcase and looked back at the figure.

"Meeting in a Dark Alley? You're not exactly being original you know that right?" The person on the bike said as he looked at the mysterious woman. "Too bad you didn't get away with it."

"Oh didn't I? We'll see about that," the woman said as she reved up her bike and sped off past him.

"Really, you just had to make this difficult don't you..." Her pursuer muttered as he sped off after her on his own bike.

The woman pressed the side of her helmet and spoke into it. "This is Diaonne, I've run into some trouble with the Shadowchasers. I'm requesting assistance."

 _"We hear you loud and clear,"_ the voice on the other end said. _"If you can't avoid them, I'll direct you down the best route to deal with them."_

"Understood," Diaonne said as she deactivate the com link and looked down at her Duel Disk which now showed a route through the city.

Her persuer frowned as he saw the woman turn onto a side street as he did the same. He had chased her from when they first picked her up over at the Paradise City Institute of Technology.

Why she had been there he didn't know, but he was about to get more answers. He pressed the side of his helmet and connected in.

"Charlie, I'm still in pursuit of the thief, any idea what she stole from the Institute?" He asked as he took a turn down another street.

 _"Security is looking into it now,"_ Charlie's voice said on the other end. _"It looks like she stole a component of some sort of energy system. I'm sorry, they're still going through everything and the whole thing has already been pretty hush-hush."_

"Any chance you can lean on your friends at Leo?"

 _"I'll see what I can do, but you better stop her anyway,"_ Charlie said. _"We don't want more of a problem Steven."_

"Yeah, I've got it," Steven said as he sped up after the woman who had turned again. "Any idea where she's going?"

 _"Looks like she's heading for... odd,"_ Charlie said.

"What's odd?"

 _"The only thing on that trajectory she could be heading for is the old Funland Arcade,"_ Charlie said. _"Weird, I thought it was under rennovation, why is she going there?"_

"Only one way to find out," Steven said as they took another turn.

 **00000**

The Funland Arcade had been recently bought out by one of the local Duel Schools after years of disuse. When Steven entered he found the place was still under rennovation as he suspected, and the woman he was following was running for the only part that was done.

A large ARC arena had been built in the center of the arcade. Steven frowned as he removed his helmet revealing a young man with short brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard as he made his way towards the arena.

"You're not going to get away with this," he said as he took his deck out and stepped into the arena. "There's only one entrance in here and you'll have to get through me."

"That's the idea!" The woman said with a laugh as she finally stepped into view. She had the pointed ears of an elf, but her dark skin gave her away as a dark elf. She smirked a little when she looked at Steven. "You walked right into my trap Shadowchaser."

"We'll see, Diaonne," Steven said as he slid his deck into the duel disk. "I want what you stole from the Institute."

"You'll have to beat me first, and I'm not going to make that easy," the woman said as she pressed a button on her duel disk. "My employers have access to this place's systems, so I can activate the ARC system!"

The holograms activated and the arena around them began to shift and change until they found themselves standing in the middle of a large factory. She smirked a little as she raised her arm and activated her duel disk.

"So, are you ready Shadowchaser?"

"I was born ready," Steven said as he activated his own duel disk. "Lets duel."

 **(Steven: 8000) - (Diaonne: 8000)**

 _"Action cards dispersing,"_ a computerized woman's voice said as cards fell around them with motes of light.

"You can make the first move, I insist," Diaonne said and smiled a little.

"Alright," Steven said as he drew his opening hand and looked it over. "I'll start with one card face down and summon Red-Eyes Wyvern in attack mode!"

The dragon that appeared in front of him resembled the famous Red-Eyes Black Dragon with black metallic skin. It was smaller than the more iconic monster though and raised its wings and let out a roar (1800/1600).

"A Red-Eyes monster? Curious," Diaone said as she looked her hand over. "But its nothing my deck can't handle."

"We'll see about that, but for now I end my turn," Steven finished as he gave her a nod.

Diaonne drew her next card and took three cards out that she slid into her duel disk's slot. "I'll set two cards face down and activate my Wattcine spell card!"

 _Wattcine?_ Steven thought and blinked in surprise as two large orbs appeared behind Diaonne with crackling electricity. "I didn't think Watts would be the kind of cards a Dark Elf thief would use."

"Oh, my deck is filled with surprises," Diaonne said with a smirk as she looked her hand over. "And I'll summon my Wattcobra in attack mode!"

A snake appeared in front of Diaonne with red scales and a blue underbelly and head. It let out a hiss as electricity crackled over its body (1000/500). "And I'm sure you know what that means."

"Your Cobra can attack me directly," Steven said with a frown as he looked at the monster. "And your Wattcine gives you more life points."

"Give the man a cigar!" Diaonne said and smirked as she pointed at her Wattcobra. "Wattcobra, attack him directly with Thunder Fang!"

The snake hissed as it rushed forward towards Steven with its mouth open wide and electricity crackling from its fangs.

Steven looked around quickly before spotting a card lying face down on the ground nearby. He ran for it but was tripped by the snake's tail as it bit at him, sending a jolt of electricity through his body.

"And as you said, that gives me the effect of my Wattcine," Diaonne said as the two orbs crackled with electricity that went flying into her as her hair raised a little as she took a card out of her deck. "I also get to add one of my Watt monsters to my hand. I think I've punished you enough for now, I end my turn."

 **(S: 7000) - (D: 9000)**

"Alright, its my turn!" Steven said as he drew his next card and smirked as he placed it on his duel disk. "I'll summon my Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight in attack mode!"

A warrior dressed in full black metal armor that was carrying two shields appeared. Parts of his armor glowed as red gems started glowing (1800/1600).

"I had heard you used the Red-Eyes Black Dragons, curious," Diaonne said as she crossed her arms. "A shame you probably lack the ability to unlock the full potential of the Red-Eyes deck."

"We'll see about that," Steven said as he crossed his arms and looked down at his duel disk. "My Red-Eyes deck still has a lot of surprises. But for now, lets take out your Wattcobra with Red-Eyes Wyvern, Inferno Blaze!"

The dragon roared as fire gathered in his mouth and breathed fire on the cobra as it shattered.

"Now Gearfried, attack her directly!" Steven continued as the knight ran forward at Diaonne who dove for a nearby card and threw it into her duel disk.

"I play the Action Card Evasion!" Diaonne said as the knight ran past her. "This lets me stop your attack before it hits."

"Great..." Steven said as he looked his hand over for a moment. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(S: 7000) - (D: 8200)**

Diaonne drew her next card and smirked a little as she put it into her disk. "I activate my spell card, Messenger of Peace!"

 _Great,_ Steven said as the holy man appeared behind Diaonne as his two monsters bowed out of respect. "And let me guess, all your Watt monsters are weak enough to attack."

"Almost all of them," Diaonne said with a smirk. "I've got a couple of cards they are too strong, but you'll see that later. For now I'll set this monster face down and end my turn."

As she set the card on her disk, the face-down monster appeared in front of her. "Lets see what you can do now."

 _Not a whole lot by the looks of things, but at least I can deal some damage with these cards,_ Steven thought as he drew his next card and looked at it and the other cards in his hand. "Alright, I start with my Black Stone of Legend!"

A stone appeared in front of him that was colored black and it cracked after a moment revealing a red stone within (0/0).

"Well, its certainly weak enough to get around, but what are you going to do with it? Diaonne asked.

"I'm activating its effect, by tributing it I can bring out one level 7 or lower Red-Eyes monster," Steven said as the stone cracked more and shattered as he took a card out of his deck.

The monster that appeared in front of him was a large black dragon that roared as it opened its wings out wide. It stared down at the Dark Elf with shining red eyes as Steven climbed on its back (2400/2000).

"Its still..." Diaonne started to say.

"Still too strong to attack, but I don't have to attack when I have the spell card Inferno Fire Blast!" Steven said as he put the card in his disk and the dragon sent a fireball at Diaonne and singed her. "Now my dragon can't attack this turn, but it couldn't anyway."

"Your dragon will pay for that," Diaonne said as she got to her feet and the dragon just blew smoke out of his nostrils. "And so will you!"

"We'll see about that, I'll end my turn there," Steven finished.

 **(S: 7000) - (D: 5800)**

Diaonne drew her next card as she looked at it and smirked a little. "I summon my Wattgiraffe in attack mode!" She said and a giraffe appeared in front of her, it was yellow with red spikes on its back and two antennae that had electricity crackle between them and over its body.

"Let me guess, it can attack directly too," Steven commented as he eyed the giraffe.

"That's right," Diaonne said as she pointed at a face down card and it flipped up as a large cannon appeared. "And I'll add my Wattcannon, this deals 600 points of damage to you once per turn when I summon a thunder monster!"

Steven gulped a little as the cannon charged up and aimed at him before it fired a shot at him and sent a shock through his body.

 _This is weird, you'd think this place would have some sort of security,_ Steven thought to himself as he looked around.

"Now, I'll attack you directly with my Wattgiraffe!" Diaonne said as the giraffe's antennae crackled again and it rushed forward and zapped Steven with electricity. At the same time the spheres charged up and zapped Diaonne. "I'm not about to make this easy for you, Shadowchaser."

"Why Watts?" Steven asked as he managed to get to his feet.

"Hmm?" Diaonne asked.

"Why do you use Watts? It seems a bit strange is all I'm saying," Steven said.

"I don't know, why does your friend use zombies?" Diaonne said with a shrug. "They're useful cards and I can lock down most opponents' decks easily. I'll bet you don't have a lot of monsters that can get around my Messenger."

Steven looked down at his duel disk. She was mostly right actually, he only had a few monsters in his deck that were weak enough to get around it. There were a few other options, but he had to draw one of them first.

In the meantime he scanned the area for more action cards. There was the one from earlier, hopefully if it called for it he could get to it.

"I'll end my turn there," Diaonne said with a smirk.

 **(S: 5200) - (D: 6900)**

"I draw!" Steven said as he drew his next card and smiled.

"What's got you smiling all of a sudden?" Diaonne asked as she looked up at Steven, suddenly she was a little nervous.

"I summon my Red-Eyes Baby Dragon!" He said and a smaller version of the Red-Eyes appeared with a cute roar (1200/700).

"Cute," Diaonne said and frowned a little. "Well, that is definitely weak enough to attack, but you'll take out your Baby Dragon if you attack my Wattgiraffe."

"I know, but lets see about your face down monster," Steven said as he pointed at the set monster. "Red-Eyes Baby Dragon, attack her face-down monster with Small Inferno!"

The small dragon let out a cute roar as it sent several small fireballs at the face-down monster. Steven was surprised to see what looked like a ring-tailed lemur with electricity crackling around it. Before it shattered however, it sent a bolt of lightning at Steven and hit him and his monsters.

"What was that?" He said as he looked up at her.

"That was my Wattlemur," Diaonne said with a smirk as she held the card up. "This monster's effect is quite handy, when you destroy it, your next turn's Battle Phase is skipped."

 _Great, that means I don't have a lot of options,_ Steven said as he looked at the cards again for a moment. "I end my turn there."

Diaonne drew her next card and raised her arm as energy flew into the holy man. "I'll pay 100 life points," she said and Steven frowned a little.

 _Okay, I have to think of something, this isn't going well otherwise,_ he thought as he looked at his cards. "So what now?"

"You're going to regret asking that, I summon my Wattbeta!" Diaonne said as an orange colored fish with electricity crackling over its body appeared in front of her (100/0). "And I'll activate my face down card Wattkeeper, which I'll use to bring back a familiar face!"

Lightning struck the area in front of her and Wattcobra re-appeared with a hiss.

"And by the way, my Wattbeta is a Tuner monster," Diaonne said with a smirk.

"That means you're going to do a synchro summon..." Steven said. "Where did you get a synchro monster?"

"Oh, you know, when you have a job like mine you learn and pick things up," Diaonne said with a smirk as her two monsters flew up. "May the lightning strike as one of the strongest of the Watts descends from the heavens!"

 **(2* + 4* = 6*)**

The monster that descended had the head of a lion with a red and blue mane, a strange body, and a long scorpion tail and it let out a roar (1400/1200).

"I synchro summon my Wattchimera!" Diaonne said as the chimera crackled with electricity then the cannon fired a shot at Steven again. "And he can attack directly with thunder tail strike!"

The Chimera's tail swung around and aimed right for Steven. Steven gave the Red-Eyes a light kick as they flew towards the card, he had an idea, he just had to get to the card in time and hope it was the right one.

The tail lashed towards him as he reached for the action card nearby and grabbed it throwing it into his disk. "I activate the Action Card Battle Change!" he countered as the tail stopped in mid-air. "This lets me pick the target of your attack, and I'll pick my Red-Eyes Baby Dragon!"

The tail suddenly re-directed and hit the dragon shattering it. Electricity crackled from the orbs and hit Diaonne.

"What was the point of that?" Diaonne asked. "I'll just get to attack you with..."

"No you won't, I can do that for every monster you have," Steven said with a smile. "But more importantly, I can now take one Red-Eyes monster from my deck and special summon it, equipping it with my Baby Dragon and increasing its attack by 300, so I summon my Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning!"

A skeletal fiend descended in place of the Dragon, it looked like the Summoned Skull but it was a darker color. It also had black and red clawed wings and it cackled evily as lightning crashed around it (2500/1200 + 300).

Steven just hoped that this was going to work.

"I, end my turn," Diaonne said. "But that means your spell wears off and you can't attack this turn anyway."

 **(S: 4400) - (D: 7000)**

 _Okay, I can't attack this turn, but I can still make this turn count,_ Steven thought as he drew his next card. "I'll set one card face down and then since my Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning is a Gemini monster, I can second summon it to give it its effect!"

"And what effect is that?" Diaonne asked.

"Its quite simple, I can destroy all of your monsters that have less attack points than him," Steven said as electricity started to crackle from the fiend's claws.

"What?" Diaonne said as the fiend cackled evily. "But that's all the monsters in my deck!"

"Monsters with lower attack points do have a downside," Steven said. "Alright Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning, take out her monsters with lightning purge!"

The fiend's wings spread out wide as he raised his arms up and clouds formed above Steven. Lightning crackled and hit the ground on Diaonne's side of the field and all her monsters shattered.

"You still can't attack you know," Diaonne said with a growl as she lowered her arm. "And on my turn I'll deal with your monsters!"

"We'll see," Steven said and looked his hand over. "I'll end my turn there, lets see what your Watts have waiting for me."

Diaonne drew her next card and looked at it for a moment before she shook her head. "I activate Magic Planter, so I'll get rid of my cannon and draw two cards," she said and the cannon shattered as she drew two more cards.

 _Well, that's one problem dealt with,_ Steven thought as he looked at the Dark Elf nervously for a moment. _I just have to get rid of that messenger if I want a chance of getting out of this._

"I'll set one card face down and one monster in defense mode," Diaonne said as she slid the cards into her disk. "And that's my turn."

 **(S: 4400) - (D: 6900)**

Steven drew a card. "You're not the only one who can draw extra cards, I play my Allure of Darkness," he said as he drew two cards. "I have to banish one dark monster or I'll lose them all, but thankfully I have my Red-Eyes Retro Dragon."

He pocketed a card as he looked his two new cards over and nodded. _Okay, this is a tough call, but I can't do anything unless I get rid of that Messenger,_ he thought as he picked one card out and slid it into his duel disk. "I play, Stamping Destruction!"

The Red-Eyes let out a roar as he stomped down on the holy man and the card shattered.

"Now I can attack with my monsters, and you're about to be wide open," Steven said as he pointed at his Red-Eyes Wyvern. "Wyvern, attack her face down monster with Infernal Rage!"

The Wyvern roared as it sent fireballs at the face down monster just before a trap flipped up and a barrier formed. The four monsters knelt in defense mode and then were replaced by four face-down monsters.

"Sorry, I activated my trap card Quaking Mirror Force," Diaonne said with a smirk. "This trap forced all your monsters face down. You didn't really think it was going to be that easy did you?"

Steven sighed as he looked at his cards, he had taken a gamble on what card to destroy and it had backfired on him. This was certainly going to make things difficult, but he wasn't going to give up just yet.

He just hoped that he'd get the right cards to turn this duel around before she did.

"Since that destroyed my Baby Dragon, I can add a level 1 dragon to my hand," he said as he took a card out of his deck.

"Not that a monster that weak will do you any good," Diaonne said with a smirk.

"Alright, you got me, I end my turn," Steven said with a shake of his head. "But this duel is far from over and that won't stop my monsters forever."

 **(S: 4400) - (D: 6400)**

Diaonne drew her next card and slid it into her disk. "I activate the spell card Blitz Draw, by banishing one Thunder monster in my graveyard with less than 1000 attack points I can draw two cards," she said as she took a monster out of her graveyard and pocketed it before she drew two cards. "The downside is I can't damage you this turn."

"Then whatever you drew better be worth it," Steven said.

"Oh it is, I play the spell card Solidarity, so all my Thunder monsters gain 800 attack points," Diaonne said. "I'll then summon my Wattpheasant in attack mode!"

A bird appeared in front of her that was primarily light blue with red and yellow feathers (1000/800 + 800).

"Now I'll set one card face down and flip summon my face down Wattkiwi!" She continued and a new monster appeared, this one looked like a bird with a long beak but its body was made up of a light bulb (600/100 + 800).

"That's, a strange monster," Steven commented.

"Yes, but its also a tuner monster," Diaonne said with a smirk. "So I'll tune together Wattkiwi and Wattpheasant to summon my strongest monster. Force of lighting and thunder, come together to form a monster with power over the storm!"

 **(3* + 4* = 7*)**

The monster that appeared in front of her was reptilian in appearance, but it had seven heads. Each head was red and blue and it had a long tail that slapped the ground behind it as they all roared (1500/1500 + 800).

 _Okay, that's not good, but nothing I can't handle,_ Steven thought as he looked his hand over. "Is there anything else?"

"No, I'll end my turn there," Diaonne finished.

"Alright, then its my draw!" Steven said as he drew his next card.

"Hold it, in your standby phase I activate Thunder of Ruler, now you can't attack this turn!" Diaonne said as her trap flipped up. "Not a lot of options left."

"No, but I've still got some moves I can make, starting with this, I sacrifice my face down Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Archfiend to summon Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon!" He said and a new roar joined the field.

The dragon that appeared this time resembled a red-eyes slightly but its wings were red and it was surrounded in flame. It roared as it looked at Diaonne with a scowl (2400/2000).

"And to make matters worse for you, I activate both of my trap cards, Red-Eyes Spirits and Return of the Red-Eyes, so I can bring back both of the monsters I sacrificed!" Steven said as his dragon and fiend re-appeared on the field (2400/2000) (2500/1200). "Of course I can't attack, but your monster's days are numbered."

"We'll see about that," Diaonne said as she looked at her Watthydra.

 _Next turn I can destroy her monster with my Archfiend's effect,_ Steven thought as he looked at his monster. "I'll end my turn there."

Diaonne smirked when she drew her next card and then slid it into her disk. "I equip my Hydra with Wattcube!" She said and a cube formed around the Hydra and it shrunk in on it as its attack rose to 2900. "And my Watthydra can attack you directly."

"Crap," Steven said as he looked at the multi-headed monster.

"But first, I'll set this monster in defense mode," she said as a face down monster appeared in front of her. "Now Watthydra, attack him directly with Multi-Head Thunder Strike!"

The Hydra opened all seven of its mouths and electricity crackled as it sent lightning bolts at Steven. He cringed as he fell down to his knees and looked up at the monster.

 _Okay, I've dealt with worse, this duel isn't over yet,_ he thought as he looked at his monsters.

"And I get to banish one card from my deck and get it back in two turns," Diaonne said as she took a card out of her deck and pocketed it. "Lets see what you've got now Shadowchaser. But if you don't have anything, I win next turn."

 **(S: 1500) - (D: 9300)**

"Oh I have something..." Steven said as he drew a card. "Remember my Archfiend, I'm summoning him again. Now Archfiend, activate your effect!"

The fiend started to charge up electricity again as Diaonne ran for another card nearby. She just barely grabbed it in time and threw it into her disk as a barrier appeared around her monster.

"That was my Lightning Shield Action Spell!" Diaonne said. "Since I only have one face-up Thunder monster, I can protect it from being destroyed once!"

"Crap..." Steven said and looked around before spotting an action spell resting on top of a crate and started after it. "Alright fine, I'll take out your face down monster with my Red-Eyes!"

The dragon breathed fire and a dragonfly appeared before it shattered and was replaced with another one.

"That was my Wattdragonfly, but you might want to hurry if you want to get that card!" Diaonne said as she laughed and her Hydra's attack rose to 3000. "Because unless you want to attack again and make my Hydra stronger, there's nothing you can do!"

"I, end my turn..." Steven said as he looked at the card again.

Diaonne drew her next card. "Watthydra, finish this!" She said as the thunder monster charged up a lightning attack and fired it at Steven.

 _Its now or never!_ Steven thought as he ran for the card, his Red-Eyes giving him a way up as he ran up its back and he grabbed the card and smiled when he saw it before putting it in his disk slot just as the attack was hitting.

"Its over!"

"Not yet its not!" Steven countered as the attack missed him. "I played an action spell you played earlier, Evasion!"

"Why don't you ever... fine, I'll activate my field spell, Wattcastle!" Diaonne shouted as a massive castle appeared behind her. "I end my turn there."

 _Okay, I have to make this turrn count, I can destroy her Hydra, but that Dragonfly will just summon more,_ Steven thought as he drew his next card and smiled. "I activate, Red-Eyes Fusion!"

"WHAT?" Diaonne said. "I call bullcrap, how do you have access to Fusion summoning?"

"The Shadowchasers have friends high up in the dueling world, and they helped us," Steven said. "You'd be amazed at what you can accomplish by not stealing from people."

He took a card out of his deck and showed it as a card called Meteor Dragon Red-Eyes Impact and put it in the disk along with Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon. A vortex appeared above him as he smirked.

"Two dragons come together to form a greater force that will burn through you!" He said as the dragons flew into the vortex.

The dragon that descended was massive, it had reddish-black scales with a long wingspan and a blazing aura around it. It let out a roar that shook the entire arcade around them (3500/2000).

"Welcome to the field, Meteor Black Comet Dragon! And that's not all, I can send another Red-Eyes from my deck to the graveyard and you take damage equal to half its attack!" He said as he discarded a card and the dragon sent fireballs at Diaonne as she screamed.

"You think you're so tough..." she said.

"Yeah, but I can also destroy your monsters, thanks to my fiend, Lightning Purge!" Steven said as lightning rained down around them again and Watthydra and Wattdragonfly shattered.

"But I get my Dragonfly's effect, I can now special summon another monster from my deck," Diaonne said as another Dragonfly appeared.

"Alright, Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning, take it out with Lightning Strike!" Steven commanded and lightning struck the dragonfly and the castle zapped the fiend and lowered its attack to 1500 and it was replaced with a small fox. "Red-Eyes, take it out!"

The dragon breathed fire and the fox shattered.

"Now its your turn Comet Dragon, attack her directly with Comet Strike!" Steven commanded as the dragon sent an inferno at Diaonne who just barely missed another action spell as she was knocked back. "And with that, I end my turn."

 **(S: 1500) - (D: 4500)**

"Then its time I end this!" Diaonne said as she drew a card and took a card out of her pocket. "And since its been two standby phases, I get back the monster I banished. So I'll summon my Wattpheasant!"

The bird appeared again with a squawk (1000/800 + 800).

"And it can attack you directly, so attack, end this!" Diaonne said and the bird sent a bolt of lightning at Steven. "There aren't any action spells to save you this time!"

"I summon Battle Fader!" Steven said as a strange fiend appeared in front of him (0/0). "That ends your battle phase... and not a moment to soon."

"I end my turn..." Diaonne said and looked down, she knew it was over.

Steven drew his next card and nodded to his dragon. "Meteor Black Comet Dragon, take out her Wattpheasant!" He said and the dragon sent another fireball at the pheasant and it shattered. "Red-Eyes, Skull Archfiend of Lightning, finish it!"

The dragon and the fiend sent fireballs and lightning at Diaonne and sent her back.

 **(S: 1500) - (D: 0)**

"You're under arrest," Steven said as he took out a gemstone and the Dark Elf vanished as the arena vanished around them. He pressed a button on his duel disk and connected with Charlie again. "I've got the package, the thief is on their way to England."

 _"Excellent, the Institute will be happy to have it back,"_ Charlie said as Steven picked it up and paused. _"Is something wrong?"_

"Its lighter than I expected," he said and the briefcase opened on its own revealing nothing inside. "Son of a..."

 _"Its alright, get back to base, hopefully Judy can get us some answers,"_ Charlie said.

"On it," Steven said and headed back out and got on his bike and sped off towards the Shadowchasers base.

 **00000**

 _"So, the culprit didn't have the object after all?"_ Judy LaBaron, a woman with long black hair and a feral look to her asked.

"No, my guess is that it was switched out when I lost her," Steven admitted with a shake of his head. "I'm sorry boss, I didn't realize she had an accomplice."

 _"Its alright, but I'm worried about the fact that it was stolen,"_ Judy said with a shake of her head. _"The Institute is being cryptic about what was taken, I suggest following up on your local contacts for now."_

"I'll take care of it," Charlie said with a nod.

 _"Be careful, we're trying to get answers out of Diaonne, but she's bound to lawyer up soon,"_ Judy said with a shake of her head. _"We need to know who hired her, and if they're going to continue to be a problem in Paradise City."_

"Yeah... she had synchro monsters if that helps," Steven said.

"Curious, I talked with Eva a bit, she said she faced someone using Fusion monsters," Charlie added. "We know how to use them because of our contacts at Leo, but who else knows that much about them?"

 _"Only a few schools even teach advanced summoning methods,"_ Judy said and shook her head a little. _"I'll look into this, I doubt Leo is involved of course, but there are other schools we could look into."_

"Hopefully we'll have answers soon," Steven said.

 **00000**

 _Evasion and Battle Switch are Action spells that appear in the Arc-V anime._

 _ **Blitz Draw.**_

 _ **Normal Spell**_

 _ **Image of Watthydra and Wattchimera looming over a duelist. Banish one THUNDER monster with 1000 or less ATK from your graveyard and draw two cards. You can't deal battle damage to your opponent the turn this card is activated.**_

 _ **Lightning Shield**_

 _ **Action Spell**_

 _ **Image of a barrier forming around a duelist made of lightning. A THUNDER monster on your side of the field cannot be destroyed by battle or card effect once per turn.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Okay, I probably messed the duel up somehow, sorry, I'm not really as familiar with Watts as I'd like.**_

 _ **Anyway, moving on, next chapter Charlie moves off the sidelines and duels against a dangerous opponent that is manipulating a child. Can she prevail? Find out next time in, "Morphtransition."**_

 _ **And of course, we have another file.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Morgana's Kin File.**_

 _ **The Acolytes of Waticira, Pilgrims of the Multiverse.**_

 _ **?.**_

What is Waticira? That is the question that everyone who has ever met the Acolytes have wondered, but rarely have gotten an answer.

What little we know about the Acolytes is that they're a nomadic group that travels from universe to universe. They're polite and are at the very least willing to answer any questions about themselves, but no one really knows why they travel outside of the Acolytes themselves.

Some research into Waticira has yielded a few results, they appear to be some sort of deity that is native to one of the other planes of existance. There is speculation among members of Morgana's Kin that it may actually be an alias for a god of law, but this is all speculation.

What is known about the Acolytes is that they appear friendly when they visit a universe. They often tell those who are curious the stories of what they've seen while they traveled around the multiverse and are natural storytellers. Despite being a religious order, they are never evangelical, and typically pacifistic.

With the exception of the Knights of Higher Law at least. They are the few militant members of the Acolytes that serve as their protectors and guardians. If they are threatened, the Knights move in quickly and decisively before the attackers even know what's going on.

The Acolytes are not to be taken lightly given that among their number appears to be several divine sorcerers. Whoever they worship appears to be a being of some power, and as long as they consider to be pacifists, it is recommended that they aren't bothered.

Who they worship continues to be an enigma, but whoever it is, we can only hope that they really aren't a threat.

 **Story Ideas:** The Acolytes of Waticira can fit into any story involving a god of law in some regard. The true identity of their deity is entirely open-ended, as is their true nature. Likely they are just pacifists, but with how little is known about them it isn't entirely clear.

Likely they would be the target of any organization that worships a being of chaos. Its not even known why they left their home universe, which may also be a factor.

 **Deck Ideas:** The Acolytes do actually seem to know how to duel after traveling through several universes that play the game. They don't have a set deck, but it wouldn't be unusual for them to use light type fairies.


	3. Morphtransition

_Well, we're on chapter 3, I hope you're all enjoying this as much as I am._

 _Also, I've only got one more file after this at the time I'm writing this introduction (except for one I'm saving for later). Hopefully I'll have more soon, but if anyone wants to write one, feel free to send it to me._

 _So without further ado, lets get started._

 _Disclaimer: I only own the stuff I created._

 **00000**

 **0000000000**

 **CHAPTER 3:**

 **MORPHTRANSITION**

 **0000000000**

 **00000**

 _ **You know, I like to think I know my team pretty well.**_

 _ **Steven is kind of an open book, he came to Paradise City as a student and became a Shadowchaser after we saved him from a gang of Shadows. He's got a family back home, and nothing really stands out about him.**_

 _ **Then there's Charlie, other than that she enjoys teasing me about my non-existent love life (don't you start on that too, we're just friends!), she usually keeps to herself away from the rest of us. What I do know about her is that she used to be a teacher at the Leo Institute, how she wound up here is beyond me.**_

 _ **Still, its gotten us some great contacts and helped us be better duelists. I just wish I knew more about her.**_

 **00000**

Quin looked up at the ceiling of the temporary quarters she had been given at Tartarus Station. She still had a lot to think about right now, Alexandra and the team aboard the station had been tracking the energy signal through the abyss, not an easy task to say the least but as soon as they found something they would let her and Leslie know.

She sighed as she picked up her deck and fanned the cards out as she looked it over. Her Kozmo deck had served her well so far, and while she was still learning a lot of the tricks, she had a good idea of exactly what she was doing. There was a lot about working for Morgana's Kin that required getting used to, but dueling was one thing that was easy.

She sighed a little and looked at the two cards that Leslie had given her, they were new cards to her, and that was something hard to get used to. She sighed as she leaned back on the bed and closed her eyes, letting the quiet of the station overtake her for a moment before there was a buzz at the door.

"Come in," she said as she looked up and Leslie walked in. "Is there any word on what's going on?"

"Alexandra says they've narrowed it down to a few layers of the Abyss," Leslie said with a shake of her head. "We've eliminated pretty much all the major layers that we were worried about, so that at least narrows down what Demon Lord we're dealing with."

"Unless they sent someone into another realm," Quin commented.

"Unlikely, but not impossible," Leslie said with a shrug. "I don't like this, it feels like we're missing something obvious here, and I'm worried about it."

"You're not the one who's going to have to investigate..." Quin said with a groan.

"Heh, yeah, remember what I told you about going to the abyss when I first made you my apprentice?"

"Don't," Quin said with a chuckle as she looked over at Leslie. "But if you have to, do it quickly and don't attract attention to yourself."

"Yeah, that's it," Leslie said with a shake of her head. "I hate going to the Abyss personally, there's always a risk there, but we don't have a choice. You'll have back-up if you need it, but we can't send in a major strike-force here, are you going to be okay?"

"I hope so," Quin said with a shake of her head. "I've never been there before, am I ready for this?"

"Don't worry, you'll do fine," Leslie said as their duel disks went off suddenly. "Sounds like they know where you're going."

Quin nodded as she hit a button and Alexandra's face appeared. "What's the word?"

 _"We've tracked it to an unimportant layer of the abyss from a strategic standpoint,"_ Alexandra answered. _"But we're still worried given who's in charge of it."_

"Who's that?" Quin asked.

 _"The Harbinger of the Apocalypse, Raum,"_ Alexandra answered. _"Whatever is going on, its connected to his realm of Demanscus."_

 **00000**

The next day after Eva and Steven had dueled against their opponents, Charlie was out on a patrol in the city on her bike. She paused a moment when she saw a large crowd outside of one of the local duel schools.

"Hmm, busy day at You Show," she commented as she went past the crowd. Not that she was surprised, the recent pendulum summoning had put the school on the map.

She had to admit that it was curious, Pendulum summoning was pretty much unknown even to her or her contacts. But at the moment, she had more pressing matters to worry about.

She shook her head and was about to head down the road again when her duel disk started to ring. She hit a buttoon and an image of a man with brown hair framed by blonde locks and dressed in a purple button up shirt appeared.

"Professor Marco, I wasn't expecting to hear from you," Charlie said as she looked at the man surprised. "Can I help you with something?"

 _"We've got a bit of a situation,"_ Marco said with a shake of his head. _"I tried calling the police, but I was told that if I wanted to get any real results I needed to call you. There's been a bit of a problem with one of my students."_

Charlie paused a little at that, Professor Marco was one of the more popular teachers at the Leo Institute. If the police couldn't help and they were sending him to her, that could only mean that there was a Shadowkind involved.

"Alright, tell me what happened."

 _"One of the new students in my class Diana Farley is in trouble,"_ Marco said with a shake of his head. _"She's been acting strange lately, talking about seeing her dead brother and even talking to someone that isn't there. She's been more, distant than usual as well. I don't really know what's going on, but if you don't mind looking into this for me."_

"I can't promise that I'll have answers for you," Charlie said with a sigh, though it certainly sounded like it could be Shadow related. "Where do you want me to meet her?"

 _"She usually goes to that local cafe the Mirage Oasis for lunch,"_ Marco answered. _"She should be there soon. I'll make sure that everything is handled with her teachers if needed."_

"Thank you, I'll check it out," Charlie said. "I'll help your student if I can, just know that I'm not a psychologist. So, if I can't help her..."

 _"Just try, that's all I ask,"_ Marco said with a nod.

"Alright, I'll try," Charlie said as she turned the screen off and headed off towards the Mirage Oasis cafe.

 **00000**

The Mirage Oasis Cafe was a small cafe on a street near the Leo Institute of Dueling. The owner was a former pro duelist who had moved to Paradise City and opened the cafe a few years back. Charlie hadn't really been there before, but right now she wasn't here for the cafe.

She checked her deck and duel disk for a moment before she opened the front door to the cafe. She looked around for a moment before she spotted what she was looking for, a girl dressed in a Leo Institute Uniform was sitting in a booth.

What caught her attention however was the spectral form of an older man in his 20s hovering next to her. She narrowed her eyes, that was definitely Shadow related, the girl seemed to be in a hushed conversation with the figure.

Charlie moved over to the booth and the girl looked up at her after a moment. "Hey, who's your friend there?"

"Wait, you can see him?" The girl asked as she looked up at Charlie.

"Yeah, he's floating right there," Charlie said and looked at the spectral man thoughtfully for a moment. He suddenly looked very uncomfortable when he saw the mark on her face.

"You're a Shadowchaser," he said simply.

"And you're an Envie I'm guessing," Charlie said as she narrowed her eyes. "I suspected it was something like that."

An Envious Malevolence or an Envie was a non-coporeal species of Shadowkind. They latched onto people who had recently lost loved ones and took the forms of their lost loved ones.

They were parasites, they wanted to complete a ritual that would give them a body. She hadn't run into them before, but she had read about them... not helped by the fact that she knew someone who had run into one.

And she wasn't going to let this one get away.

"What do you want?" The Envie asked and narrowed his eyes. "How'd you even learn about us?"

"Professor Marco told me about you," Charlie said as she looked at Diana. "He's worried about you. We need to get you freed of this before its too late."

"You know the rules, Shadowchaser," the Envie said as he looked at her. "If you want to deal with me, you're going to have to duel."

"I know how it works," Charlie said, she didn't like doing this but she knew the Envie could do a lot of dangerous things with a crowded cafe. "Let me guess, if you win I leave you both alone."

"That's right," Diana said as she reached into her bag and took out a duel disk and deck. "This place often has duels in it, so it won't draw any attention."

"Understood," Charlie said with a shake of her head before she nodded to a waitress who was dressed in a kimono.

After a few minutes the tables were moved out of the way for Charlie to duel against Diana and the Envie. She glanced around, there were a few Shadows here, hopefully this was going to work, this would be embarrassing otherwise.

"Lets duel," she said as she activated her duel disk and Diana did the same.

 **(Charlie Vaughn: 8000) - (Diana Farley: 8000)**

"Don't worry Diana, you know what to do," the envie said as they drew their opening hands. "You've studied at the best Duel School in the world, you can win this."

"Really? Because I've taught there, I think I have the edge here," Charlie said as she looked her hand over.

"You know what they say about those who can't do," Diana said as she looked her hand over and slid two cards into her disk before she set a monster face down. "I'll set two cards face down, and then set one monster in defense mode, that's all I can do right now."

 _A basic start, lets see if I can do better,_ Charlie thought as she drew her sixth card and smiled a little. "Since I have no monsters on the field, I can special summon my Super Quantum Red Layer in attack mode, its morphing time!"

A warrior monster appeared in front of her. He had red armor with a lion-like helmet and larger than normal shoulder pads. One hand had a set of long claws on it and he smirked at her (2000/800).

"A Super Quantum monster?" Diana asked surprised.

"That's right, my deck is filled with these cards," Charlie said with a smirk as she gave Red Layer a nod. "And since that was a special summon, I can now normal summon my Summoner Monk!"

A man with blue skin and long grey hair appeared in front of her before he knelt down in the meditative position (800/1600).

"Now I'll discard one spell card, and then I can special summon a level 4 monster from my deck," she continued as she discarded a card and a new monster appeared, this one was dressed in green robed armor with a helmet with two wings on it appeared, then an identical monster appeared next to him (1600/1400).

"Wait, how did you do that?" The Envie asked as they backed away a little at the sight of the two monsters.

"When my Super Quantum Green Layer is normal or special summoned, I can special summon another one from my hand," Charlie said with a smirk. "Unfortunately I don't have another Super Quantum in my hand or I could do it again."

"Yeah, unfortunately..." Diana said with a gulp.

"But I can now create the overlay network!" Charlie said as a vortex appeared in front of her and the two Green Layers flew into it. "Drawing power from the grid itself, I bring forth my machine of the air!"

The vortex opened and a machine appeared, it resembled a large metal bird with a green body and wings. It let out a metallic screech as it spread its wings (2200/2400).

"So welcome to the field, Super Quantal Mech Beast Aeroboros!"

"You weren't kidding about being a teacher at the Leo Institute weren't you?" Diana asked with a gulp before she looked at Charlie. "You're Professor Vaughn aren't you? I heard about you from the other students, you left the school a year ago."

The Envie frowned a little as he realized just what they were up against.

"That's right, and I'll take out that face down monster with my Red Layer, Slash of the Lionheart!" Charlie ordered as the warrior ran forward and prepared to slash at the monster.

"Go trap card, Waboku!" Diana countered as several women appeared in front of her, the attack still contacted and revealed a treasure chest with a mouth.

"Dark Mimic LV1?" Charlie asked.

"That's right, and I can draw one more card," Diana said as she drew a card.

"I'll set one card face down and end my turn," Charlie said with a groan as a face down card appeared in front of her.

Diana drew a card and then took her deck out. "Since its my standby phase, I can sacrifice my Dark Mimic LV1 to special summon my Dark Mimic Level 3."

A new chest appeared, this one was silver with red parts and had tentacles coming out of it (1000/1000).

"I'll activate my spell card Celestial Sextant, by placing a level 6 monster on the bottom of my deck I can draw two cards," she said and took a card from her hand and put it in her disk before she drew two more cards.

 _Odd move, but I'm guessing she has a plan,_ Charlie thought worriedly.

"Now I'll play my spell the Dark Door," she continued and a barrier appeared between them with just one entrance. "And I'll set one card face down and summon my Silent Magician LV4!"

A young female magician with white and blue robes and a pointed hat appeared holding a staff (1000/1000).

"And that's all for my turn," Diana finished.

"Alright, its my draw!" Charlie said as she drew her next card.

"Which gives my Silent Magician LV4 a Spell Counter and 500 attack points," Diana said with a smirk as Silent Magician started to glow and her attack rose to 1500.

 _Okay, nothing I can't handle, even with that dark door card,_ Charlie thought as she looked at the card she just drew and slid it into her duel disk. "I'll set this card face down to start things off. Now, I know all about your Silent Magician so I'm going to take her out before she becomes a threat. Aeroboros, attack Silent Magician with Quantal Wing Slash!"

The mechanical bird swooped in and slashed at the magician with its wings, only to have it re-directed towards the chest when armor formed over it.

"Attack Guidence Armor?" Charlie asked as the chest shattered.

"That's right, and since it was summoned by my Dark Mimic LV1, I can draw 2 cards," Diana said as she drew two more cards.

 _Great, she's getting more and more of an advantage, but I can still take out that magician,_ Charlie thought as she shook her head. "Alright, I'll end my turn there."

"Then its my turn!" Diane said as she drew her next card.

"That'll help," the Envie said as he looked over her shoulder. "Don't worry, as soon as you have your stronger monster you can deal with her overgrown bird. Play your card and you'll be one step closer."

 _I don't like the sound of that, she probably has cards that force me to draw more cards,_ Charlie thought as she looked at the young magician. _I've got a bad feeling about this, but my monster can deal with it._

"I activate my One Day of Peace spell card," Diane said as she slipped the card into her disk. "Now we can both draw one card and neither of us take damage until my next turn."

 _Well, that wasn't so bad at least,_ Charlie thought as she drew her card and the magician glowed as her atttack points rose to 2000. _I just have to hope that whatever she draws can't make me draw again._

"Hmm, well, this will certainly help," Diane said as she slid the card into her disk and it appeared in front of her. "I'll set this card face down and end my turn."

Charlie drew a card as the Silent Magician glowed more and her attack rose to 2500. _Well, that's a problem but nothing I can't handle,_ she thought as she looked up at her machine monster.

"So, what do you have this time?" The Envie said with a wicked smirk. "Your monsters aren't nearly strong enough to take out Diana's Magician."

"No, but I've got something that will make things easier," Charlie said as an idea started to form in her mind. "I summon my Super Quantum Blue Layer!"

A new monster appeared in front of her, it was blue and looked feminine with a helmet and long red hair flowing behind her. She looked at Charlie and then the opponents and nodded, holding her hands up as golden gauntlets glowed with blue energy (1200/2000).

"That's still..." Diana started to say.

"Thanks to her effect I get to add one Super Quant card to my hand," Charlie said as she took a card out of her deck and then slid it into her duel disk and a set card appeared in front of her. "Which I'll set face down and then I'll activate the effect of Aeroboros and force your monster face down."

Diana frowned as the Silent Magician knelt and then was replaced with a face-down card.

"That's not good..." she commented.

"Its alright, she can only attack once thanks to your spell," the Envie said with a nod. "You have nothing to worry about."

"Now I'll attack your Magician with my Aeroboros!" Charlie said as the machine fired missiles at the face down monster only for a metal scarecrow to intercept it. "Oh you have got to be kidding me."

"That's right, you can only attack with one monster per turn, and I can stop your attack," Diana said with a smirk. "You'll have to try harder than that to beat me."

"I, end my turn," Charlie said with a shake of her head as she looked her hand over, there wasn't much that could help her right now but the card she had set would change everything.

"Then its my draw!" Diane said as she drew her next card and looked at it before sliding it into her disk. "I'll set this card face down, and don't think I don't know your monster's weakness, you can't attack with it if it doesn't have an overlay unit."

Charlie flinched a little, she was right of course, it was the main weakness of her mechs. But at the same time, she did have ways to get around that downside, and she'd have even stronger monsters waiting.

"I'll switch my magician back into face-up attack position and end my turn," Diane finished as the young magician appeared again (1000/1000). "You better be careful before you make your next move."

 _Okay, lets hope I can do something about that Scarecrow,_ Charlie thought as she drew her next card and then smiled even as the magician glowed a little.

Diane and the Envie suddenly looked nervous as they saw that smile. Whatever she had drawn was going to be dangerous.

"I summon my second Super Quantum Blue Layer!" She said and the blue armored woman appeared again. "Drawing upon the power of the grid itself, I bring forth my beast of the sea!"

The vortex appeared in front of her and the two Blue layers flew into it. The monster that rose from it was a machine that was made up of two large whale-like creatures attached to a metal part that had two energy bursts coming out of it that knelt in a defensive positione (1800/2800).

"Welcome to the field, Super Quantal Mech Beast Grampulse!" Charlie said as the mech let out a metalic whistle.

"Don't worry, its nothing you can't handle, she can only attack once and your trap will stop it," the Envie said.

"That's right, it's only a matter of time before your monsters are destroyed!" Diane said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. "This duel is as good as mine."

"Not quite yet, I still have the effect of Grampulse," Charlie said as she took one card and slid it into her duel disk. "By detaching an overlay unit I can destroy one of your spell or trap cards, so I'll take out your Scarecrow!"

The machine fired a burst of energy at the face down card that shattered.

"You still can only..."

"That's about to change too, I activate my trap card Super Quantal Mech Sword - Magnaslayer and give it to Aeroboros," Charlie continued and a sword appeared in the machine's claws and its attack rose to 2600. "But that's not going to last long, I enter my battle phase and get rid of the sword, and then my machine can attack two more times. So I'll take out first your Magician, and then attack you directly twice!"

Diane backed up as the machine's sword shattered then missiles hit first the magician and then rained down around Diane who covered her face.

"And that's everything for my turn," Charlie said with a smile. "It looks like I've turned this duel around."

 _Not for long,_ Diane thought as she looked at her deck.

 **(C: 8000) - (D: 2900)**

Diane drew her card and smirked a little as she showed it to the Envie. "Look at that brother, I've got exactly what I need."

"Go for it Diane, you know what to do," the Envie said with a nod.

"I activate my spell card, Level Modulation, so you can draw two cards and I can bring back one of my level monsters!" Diane said.

"Crap..." Charlie said as she drew two cards and looked at them as Silent Magician LV4 re-appeared. "What are you going to do with her?"

"I'll get to that in a moment, first I activate Breakthrough Skill to negate the effect of Aeroboros!" Diane said as a trap flipped up and a spike hit the machine. "And I'll add my Level Up spell card, so I can skip the spell counters to summon Silent Magician LV8!"

The small magician started to glow and grew larger into a woman with the same robes only longer and she swung her staff around (3500/1000).

"Now, Silent Magician LV8, take out Aeroboros with Solar Magic!" Diane continued and the spellcaster swung her staff and blasted the machine with her magic and it shattered with a screech. "And I'll end my turn there.

 **(C: 6700) - (D: 2900)**

 _Okay... lets hope I can draw something that works,_ Charlie thought as she drew her next card and flinched. It was her second copy of Super Quantal Alphan Strike, she wasn't going to be able to use this.

"Bad draw?" Diane asked with a smirk.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Charlie said as she added the card to her hand before she picked out two others out of her hand. "I'll set these two cards face down and switch my Red Layer to defense mode."

The two face down cards appeared in front of her as the warrior knelt in defense mode and she looked her hand over again.

 _She doesn't seem to use any Xyz monsters, so some of my cards aren't going to help,_ Charlie thought as she looked at Diane and shook her head. _But this duel isn't over yet, I just need to draw the right cards and this duel is all mine. I can't take out her Dark Door or she'll just be able to attack with her other monsters, so I have to hang back.._

"Keep it up Diane, you'll win this in no time," the Envie said with a smirk. "She doesn't have anything right now that can stand up to your monster."

"Not yet at least," Charlie said as she looked at her extra deck.

"Well good luck with that, you've got a lot to do before you can take me down," Diane said with a smirk. "Is that your turn?"

"Yes," Charlie said.

"Then its my draw!" Diane said as she drew her next card. "I activate the spell card Card of Demise, so now I can draw three cards but I can't deal damage to you and I have to discard my hand at the end of the turn."

She picked the next three cards up off her deck and nodded at the Envie as she showed them to him.

"Very good, now lets get this started," he said with a smirk.

"I'll set one card face down and then I'll activate Emergency Provisions to get rid of my Dark Door!" Diane said as a mouth appeared and swallowed up the spell card as her life points went up.

 _Great, that means she can attack with more than one monster, and I'll bet she has one,_ Charlie said with a groan as she looked at her monsters.

"Next, I'll summon Ultimate Insect LV3!" Diane continued and a purple and red caterpillar like insect appeared in front of her (1400/900). "Now, lets take out your Zord there. Silent Magician LV8 take it out with your Solar Staff!"

The magiciain spun her staff around and sent a burst of magic at the machine.

"I'm activating its effect first!" Charlie said as she took out the remaining overlay unit. "So I'll use it to take out that face down you just set!"

The robot fired energy and it hit the card which was revealed to be Transcendant Wings before it shattered.

"Too bad, that could've been useful later," Charlie said and let out a sigh of relief as her monster shattered.

"Now Ultimate Insect, take out her Red Layer!" Diane said and the insect slithered forward and shot acid at the monster and it shattered. "And that's all for my turn."

 **(C: 6700) - (D: 3900)**

"Then its my draw!" Charlie said as she drew her next card. _And unless its a winner, then I'm not going to stand much of a chance._

She looked at the card and smiled a little, this was going to help a little she just had to get the right card. She slid it into her duel disk and it appeared face down in front of her. "I'll start by setting one card face down and then I'll activate my Summoner Monk's effect, so I'll discard my Overlay Capture spell to summon my last Green Layer."

She sent one of the cards to the graveyard and the robed monster appeared kneeling in defense mode one last time (1600/1400).

"Not exactly the strongest monster you have," Diane commented.

"I know, but he'll buy me some time," Charlie said as she looked at her monsters. "I'll end my turn there."

Diane drew her next card and smirked. "First, since its my standby phase I can sacrifice my Ultimate Insect LV3 to level it up!"

The insect broke apart and a silver colored insect burst out of it. It had long spindly legs and mandibles that clicked before it let out poison that lowered the attack of Charlie's monsters by 500 (2300/900).

"And thanks to my monster's effect, your monsters lose 500 attack," Diane said with a smirk.

"You're doing great Diane, keep it up, now use the card you just drew!" The Envie said with a wicked smirk.

"I equip her with the spell, Big Bang shot!" Diane said and the spellcaster glowed with burning energy as her attack rose to 3900. "Now she gains a tramping effect, which makes her even more dangerous!"

 _Crap,_ Charlie thought as she looked at her face down card, it wasn't going to stop the attack, she just had to hope it would help.

"Now, take out her Green Layer with Solar Magic!" Diane said and the spellcaster shot her attack at the monster which shattered. "Now its your turn Ultimate Insect, take out her Summoner Monk!"

The insect skittered forward and swung at the monk.

"Go trap card, Metaverse, now I can activate one field spell!" Charlie said as she took a card out and the cafe around them changed into a hangar of a large machine with several robots around them. "And I activated my Super Quantal Mech Ship Magnacarrier!"

"Too bad it didn't stop my attack," Diane said as the monster shattered. "Its your turn, I'd make the best of it if I were you."

 **(C: 4200) - (D: 3900)**

Charlie drew a card and flinched, it wasn't going to help her. "I'll simply set this monster in defense mode and end my turn," she said and a set monster appeared in front of her.

"You better hope I don't draw a monster or this duel is over," Diane said and drew a card as she flinched.

"Didn't draw a monster huh?" Charlie asked.

"Shut up, I can still level up my insect," Diane said as her insect glowed and its body grew larger and more blue as it opened its back revealing large wings that buzzed (2600/1200). "And now I'll move into my battle phase and attack your face down monster with Ultimate Insect!"

The insect buzzed its wings as poison fell on the monster and it shattered after revealing a third Blue Layer.

"Now Silent Magician LV8, attack her directly!" Diane continued as the female magician fired a magical blast at Charlie and she was pushed back.

"Its almost over now," the Envie said with a wicked smirk that Diane couldn't see.

 _Its not over yet..._ Charlie thought as she looked at her deck.

"I'll end my turn there, don't get comfortable though, next turn its all over," Diane said and laughed.

 **(C: 300) - (D: 3900)**

"Then I draw!" Charlie said as she drew and look at her next card. _Okay, this is gonna be risky, but I just have to hope it pays off._

"Well?" Diane asked.

"I activate my Pot of Desires," Charlie said as she picked up the next 10 cards from her deck and pocketing them. "By banishing 10 cards face down, I can draw two cards."

"You're taking a big risk, you know that right?" Diane asked. "You could banish whatever you need."

"I know, but its this or lose," Charlie said as she drew two cards and smiled. "I activate the spell card Monster Reborn, and I'll bring back my Red Layer!"

With that the red armored monster appeared in front of her again as he swung his claw around a little (2000/900 - 700).

"Why bring him back? He won't help you," Diane said.

"Oh but he will, I can discard one card and special summon an Xyz monster from my extra deck that's the same attribute as the one on the field thanks to my field spell," Charlie said and discarded the other card she had drawn and her extra deck glowed and the carrier around them shook as the Red Layer flew into it. "So welcome to the field, Super Quantal Beast Magnaliger!"

A new monster ran into view, it looked like a robotic big cat with a mane and mechanical limbs. It let out a mechanical roar (2600/2000 - 700).

"And I can use his effect, by detaching one overlay unit I can destroy one of your monsters, like your Ultimate Insect!" Charlie said as she took the card and slid it into her graveyard before the insect shattered and Magnaliger's attack returned to normal.

"You should have used that on my Magician," Diane said.

"I'll get to her in a moment, I'm first activating the other effect of my field spell, by sending it to the graveyard I can form the Overlay network using my Super Quantal Mechs from my field and graveyard to summon my strongest monster!" She said and the field around them began to shake even more as the vortex appeared in front of her.

First Magnaliger flew into it, then Grampulse and Aeroboros appeared and flew into it. The monster that rose from it was massive, it looked like a humanoid robot that was made up of different parts from it. The chest came from Magnaliger, the arms and wings came from Aeroboros, and the legs came from Grampulse (3600/3200).

"Its still..." Diane started to say.

"My Super Quantal Mech Beast Grand Magnus has effects depending on how many overlays it has and since it has at least two I can detach one of them to shuffle one card back into the deck," Charlie said as she held up Grampulse and the giant machine flapped its wings and it sent the fire aura around Silent Magician away and then the magician herself shattered. "Now, Grand Magnus attack her directly with Quantum Magna Slash!"

The robot charged forward and drew a sword that it slashed at Diane with and she fell back on her butt.

"Its... not... ove..." Diane started to say when she saw Charlie's trap, the one she had this whole time flip up. "No, not Xyz Reborn."

"That's right, so welcome back Grampulse!" Charlie said as the two headed machine appeared in front of her again (1800/2800). "Grampulse, finish this!"

The machine sent a burst of energy at Diane and she screamed as it flowed through her.

 **(C: 300) - (D: 0)**

"What are you going to do now?" Diane asked as the holograms vanished around her.

"Diane, you're being fed on by a parasite, I'm going to send you somewhere that you can be helped," Charlie said with a soft smile as she took out her gem. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

She raised the gem and Diane vanished. She shuffled her deck and gave the wiatress a nod as she headed back out and got on her bike, she had a patrol to finish.

 **00000**

"You're kidding, he tried to steal the data again?" An elven woman with short black hair and dressed in a tank top and blue jeans asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well he's not one to give up easily," Eva said with a chuckle, the two were talking in the kitchen in the Shadowchaser's home base. "Still, something is weird about all of this, he was using Fusion monsters and then Steven dueled a Dark Elf with synchros."

"Odd, perhaps something is going on," the elf said.

Charlie smiled a little, she had known Myra since the elf had arrived from Shadow a few years back. She had been a recent arrival and had been set upon by a group that was trying to take advantage of that.

The two had been friends ever since, despite Charlie's jokes to the contrary they were not a couple. Eva smiled a little at the Elf, it wasn't that she wasn't cute, she just, had a lot of things on her mind and she was still getting over an old relationship.

"Hey lovebirds," Charlie said as she came in. "Its good to see you again Myra."

"You too Charlie," Myra said with a smile as she gave her a nod.

"Run into any trouble?" Eva asked.

Charlie paused a moment. "I ran into an Envie at the Mirage Oasis," she said with a shake of her head. "He was feeding on a student from the Leo Institute."

Eva frowned a little and shook her head. "I hope he'll be stopped somehow," she said softly.

"Don't worry, dealing with Envies have gone a long way," Charlie said as stretched out a little. "I'm going to go get a shower, you two have fun!"

"We're not... oh never mind," Eva said as Myra just laughed and Charlie left. "See what I have to put up with every day?"

"I think its funny," Myra said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said and shook her head, she just hoped that everything would be okay.

 **00000**

 _ **Well, that's the third member of the main Shadowchasers in Paradise City introduced, but we're not all done yet.**_

 _ **Next chapter, we leave the mortal plane as Quin Lamont tracks down the source of the energy being sent to Tharizdun's prison. Can she learn anything new about what's going on? Find out next time in, "D.D. Warrior Lady."**_

 _ **Also, don't forget to send in your file ideas.**_

 **00000**

 _ **The Somber King, Ruler of an Empire of Universes.**_

 _ **Solani, Universe TO-2998, Universe Cluster Zeta-5.**_

While there are many organizations in the multiverse, most of them are limited to only a single universe or they don't stay in a single one. There are however exceptions, but the most dangerous of them is the Solanira Empire and its ruler, the Somber King.

The Solanira Empire spans over at least 6 universes with the universe designated TO-2998 at its center. The Empire is one of the major powers of the multiverse, and is not one to be taken lightly.

Morgana's Kin historians have managed to track down the origin of the Somber King and his Empire. Apparently the King is the last survivor of a universe that had been consumed by chaos, leaving nothing in its wake. How the King survived is not known, but he has dedicated himself to hunting down the beings that destroyed his home, and protecting other universes from suffering the same fate.

The Somber King's empire has few rivals in the multiverse as very few beings are capable of threatening his Empire. The King himself is rarely at home, often traveling to other universes in pursuit of the beings that destroyed his home universe aboard his flagship.

The Somber King and his forces rule the worlds under their control with an iron fist. There is little that escapes his notice, and he's not a being to be taken lightly. He is on occasion willing to negotiate and trade with some groups, but if he truly sets his sights on a universe, it'll take a lot to push him back.

One individual that encountered the Somber King claimed that he was able to weaken him using a magic deadzone. It appears that the Somber King utilizes technology supplemented by magic, so if the magic is negated his technology is fairly weak.

However he's still a dangerous opponent to deal with for anyone. The Somber King is truly a force to be reckoned with for even the mightiest of warriors.

 **Story Ideas:** The Somber King can work well as a main villain for a fanfic that involves him invading the Shadowchasers universe. His forces are not easy to face, but if you get enough warning you can win.

Alternatively if you could reason with him he could become an ally against the forces that had destroyed his home universe if they came to the Shadowchasers universe. He's hard to reason with, but he may be willing to negotiate if all else fails.

Even if you were to defeat the being that attacked, it is however possible that he will stab you in the back.

As to who attacked his home, well that's something that is not completely known. Perhpas it was an elder evil, or perhaps it was something else entirely.

 **Deck Ideas:** The Somber King knows very little about Duel Monsters, but if he was to ever duel his deck could be just about anything. He'd likely use a deck with overwhelming power like Ancient Gears or Five Gods Dragon.


	4. DD Warrior Lady

_Well, its been an interesting run so far, we have a long way to go still, but this next chapter should be interesting._

 _So, what are we going to be dealing with here? Well, lets see what happens as we follow our heroes here. This time, lets learn more about the last member of our group._

 _So, lets begin!_

 _Disclaimer: I only own the stuff that I created for this fic._

 **00000**

 **0000000000**

 **CHAPTER 4:**

 **D.D. WARRIOR LADY**

 **0000000000**

 **00000**

 _ **Yeah, we didn't really know what was waiting for us at this point, but we'd come to know what was going on soon enough.**_

 _ **Quin Lamont, a member of the Shadowchasers that honestly we don't know a lot about other than that she's part of Morgana's Kin. She was still more or less a rookie at this time, but that didn't mean she was to be underestimated, she is after all still a Shadowchaser.**_

 _ **Though, I don't envy her for what she's having to put up with. After all, we didn't know what we were up against and she was going to have to find out. That meant she was going to have to travel to the Abyss itself, not something that I personally would ever want to do.**_

 _ **But still, we needed to know what was going on, and she was the only one who could find out for us.**_

 **00000**

"With all due respect Councilor, I should be the one who's going to Demanscus," Leslie said as she spoke with Alexandra in the warden's office on Tartarus Station.

"Miss. Lamont is more than capable of doing this job Leslie," Alexandra said with a shake of her head. "Its not like we're sending her to Azzagrat or the Gaping Maw. We'll have her monitored at all times to make sure she's safe."

"But she's never even been in the Abyss," Leslie said with a sigh. "I'm worried that something might happen to her."

"She's going to have to go into the Abyss someday," Alexandra said with a shake of her head. "You went into the Abyss within your first few years and harder. This isn't an easy call to make I know, but I'm sure that Quin can do this just fine, we'll make sure that she'll be kept safe."

"I hope so," Leslie said with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry, I've never had a student before and now that she's actually out on her own I don't really know what to do."

"Don't worry, you did a good job teaching her," Alexandra said with a nod. "We've done everything we can to make sure that she's ready for everything that she's going to have to face. That's all we can really do as teachers, and there are some things that you have to face on your own."

"I hope you're right," Leslie said as she looked down at her duel disk and shook her head a moment.

She had been through her fair share of strange encounters as the Morgana's Kin member in the Shadowchasers. She still remembered the moment that had caused that universe to split into four different dimensions, they had attempted to do what they could to stop it but with the threat of Zarc returning they knew that they had to leave things as is.

Quin had been born in one of those dimensions, Leslie had found her and taken her in. She was the closest thing Leslie had to a daughter, so the idea of sending the younger woman into an unknown and potentially dangerous situation terrified her more than anything she had faced.

She knew that it was what had to be done though, if there was a risk that Tharizdun might escape, then everything would be in danger.

"You're right, we don't have a choice," Leslie finally said. "Is there any other reports of activity?"

"Just one incursion from Paradise City last night," Alexandra said with a shrug as she pulled the information up. "Nothing to be worried about really. Its from Universe YP-9801, pretty standard and they have no malicious intent so I wouldn't worry about it."

"Hmm, that's one of the crossover universes isn't it?" Leslie asked and she nodded. "Alright, well if you think this is the best course of actions, we don't have a choice but to go forward with it."

Alexandra nodded and they got up and headed towards the main portal room for Tartarus Station.

 **00000**

Quin gulped a little as she looked at the swirling portal that had been set up leading to Demanscus. She didn't want to admit it to Leslie, but she was more nervous about this than she had felt about anything. She checked through her deck one more time, figuring that she better be ready just in case she needed it.

"Quin, are you alright?" Leslie asked which made her jump in surprise.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Quin said as she tried not to look scared as she looked over at her former mentor. "First time going into the Abyss, you know? Do you have any advice for while I'm in there? Other than get out there fast."

"Expect the unexpected, you're entering a place of chaos," Leslie said. "Demanscus though, its... do you remember that one universe we visited with the collapsed city and the broken road?"

"The one with the talking Zebras that worshiped the stars or the one somewhere near California?" Quin asked as she raised an eyebrow at Leslie.

"Both, wow I forgot about that one..." Leslie said with a shake of her head. "The point is that's about what to expect. Demanscus is in bad shape, reflecting its ruler in many ways, so approach with extreme caution."

"I will," Quin said with a nod as she put her deck back in her duel disk. "I'll be back, I promise."

Leslie nodded and Quin walked forward through the portal and vanished. Leslie looked at the techs who were paying close attention to the telemetry, and held a breath as she hoped that Quin would make it there okay.

"She's on the other side ma'am," one of the techs said as she looked up. "Confirmed, she's made it across the threshold and into Demanscus."

"Good, patch me through to her," Leslie said and the tech gave her a nod as she pressed the communication device on her ear. "Quin, this is Leslie, can you hear me?"

 **00000**

"Loud and clear," Quin said as she looked up at the formless sky above her.

Leslie hadn't been kidding, when she stepped foot into Demanscus she had no idea exactly what to expect. She found herself on a road that lead into what looked like an old city that was falling apart. There was no signs of armies or anything alive around her.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" She asked as she looked around. "This place looks completely abandoned, if I didn't know better I'd say this was more of a battlefield or something. What exactly am I walking into here?"

"Demanscus is in a stay of decay like I said," Leslie replied. "Its connected to its master, but stay on your guard. We don't know if there's a chance that Raum may still have some sort of defenses."

"Alright, I'll head towards the city," Quin said as she looked at the city again. "I think I can make out a temple of some sort, that might be worth checking out."

"Acknowledged," Leslie said and took a deep breath. "Good luck Quin, I believe in you."

Quin nodded and smiled a little. "Thanks Leslie," she said and started walking towards the city, her footsteps echoed across the otherwise quiet landscape of Demanscus.

As she walked along the road she could feel the ground beneath her as if it was on the verge of crumbling, she took another step and fell down as her leg fell through a hole and she screamed.

"What happened?" Leslie asked panicking.

"Fell through a hole... I'm okay..." Quin said as she pulled herself up out of it and looked down at the hole and into the formless void below. "That's not a fall I'd recommend taking..."

She pulled herself back up and started walking again, this time being more careful as she entered the city. She moved around the decrepit buildings, it really did remind her a bit of the times she had traveled to post-apocalyptic universes with Leslie, only the architecture was much older.

She finally reached the center of the city and found the temple there and she stopped in mid-stride. It looked like a ziggurat, only it was made of obsidian and it looked like the only really intact part of the city. There was an altar on top and a set of stairs that lead up.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Quin asked as she tapped her communicator again.

"Yeah, we're getting visual here," Leslie answered, she sounded more worried than anything else. "That wasn't there last time we sent scouts into Demanscus. It looks recent, very recent, and we're getting the readings from it."

"So, we found our target, fun..." Quin said with a groan as she headed for the stairs, holding her duel disk out as if getting ready to be attacked at any moment. "What should I do?"

"Approach with caution, we still don't know what's waiting for you," Leslie said and Quin nodded as she started up the ziggurat towards the top.

The ziggurat was massive, towering over the other buildings of the town. When she reached the top she found herself on a flat surface with a single altar at the center, she raised her duel disk and reached for a pocket as if getting ready for anything.

"Have you come to bargain?" A cold, but aged voice said that seemed to echo around her.

"Do I look like the Sorcerer Supreme to you?" Quin asked though she tried not to sound as nervous as she felt.

"No, you look like a girl who's way over her head," the voice said again. "I'm surprised it took your order this long to realize what I was doing."

"You're trying to release Tharizdun, why?" Quin asked. "You know as well as I do that you won't survive the apocalypse he brings with him. Or is that the point, Harbinger of the Apocalypse?"

"Tharizdun will escape eventually, your order knows it," the voice continued as a shadow began to form atop the altar. "Your council knows that it is inevitable. Entropy is inevitable, and he will purge all worlds."

A figure formed on the altar, it was hunched over and at first glance looked like an ordinary elderly human male. Upon closer look however, his skin was black and his white hair shifted, plus when he opened his eyes they were silvery grey with a long tangled beard. He was dressed in a simple tunic, and he grinned showing yellow teeth.

"Raum I presume," Quin said as she looked at the aging Demon Lord. "The lord of Demanscus, at least you're not afraid to come on your own."

"Very few want to serve a lord that's wasting away," Raum said. "You want to know more about the connection between this world, the Demiplane of Imprisonment, and your... what do you call it, Standard Dimension? Things were so much simpler when that world was just one you know."

"Yeah, well there's nothing we could do about that," Quin said with a roll of her eyes. "Let me guess, this Ziggurat and that Altar is part of whatever your plan is."

"Part of it yes, yes, but not all," Raum said as he smiled again. "But you have dared to enter my realm. As its ruler, I will defend it, perhaps if you win you can stop my plans, perhaps not."

"So what, you want to fight?" Quin said which just got a laugh from Raum.

"I may be weak for a Demon Lord, but I am still stronger than a novice like you," Raum said and shook his head. "You are a Shadowchaser too are you not? I've heard of your group, and we will settle this the way they do."

"By dueling, figures," Quin said as she raised her duel disk and activated it, an energy blade shaped like a crescent moon forming.

Raum smirked and raised his gnarled hand and a deck levitated up and five cards flew off it and formed in front of him in larger form as Quin drew five cards.

"Any idea what I'm up against here?" She whispered into her communicator but only got static. "Great, I'm on my own."

 **(Quin Lamont: 8000) - (Raum: 8000)**

"Why don't you go first?" Quin asked as she looked her hand over. _Might as well see what he has in store for me, at least I can get the first draw that way._

"Fine," Raum said as he pointed at a card. "I activate the spell card Ascending Soul!"

A spell card appeared in front of him as a light shined down on the field around him. He smirked a little as he looked over at Quin.

 _Okay, that's a ritual support card, not good,_ Quin thought as she looked at him. "Ritual monsters huh? Well that doesn't really narrow it down."

"You'll see what I have in store for you soon enough," Raum said as he pointed at another card and a bird that looked like a bald eagle with a jet pack and goggles appeared in front of him (1400/1000). "Thanks to the ability of my Sonic Bird, I can add one ritual spell to my hand."

Quin frowned a little as another card appeared in front of Raum. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Next, I set one card face down and activate my Field Spell, Break the World!"

A metal mask appeared in the sky above them as a ray of light hit the ziggurat. The ground shook and when Quin looked out she saw the ground cracking around them as the buildings began to fell apart even more but the ziggurat remained intact.

"Goddesses, you're destroying your own city!" Quin said.

"This place is falling apart anyway, there's hardly any point," Raum said. "Entropy and decay is inevitable, even in the Abyss. There is hardly any point to existing, nothing has a purpose beyond destruction."

"You must be real fun at parties," Quin said as she rolled her eyes.

"I don't really care, I'll end my turn there," Raum finished.

"Then its my draw!" Quin said as she drew a sixth card and looked her hand over a moment. "I start with my Kozmo Goodwitch!"

A green skinned woman with long dirty blonde hair and dressed in robes appeared with two butterfly wings behind her. She took what at first looked like a wand off her belt and then hit a button and with a snap-hiss a blade of energy came out of it (1800/1000).

"Then I'll set two cards face down and equip my Goodwitch with Kozmo Lightsword!" Quin continued and two cards appeared in front of her and then a second sword appeared in Goodwitch's free hand and her attack rose to 2300. "Looks like she's a master of jar'kai huh?"

Raum just blinked and looked at Quin strangely. "Your mortal references don't mean anything to me."

"You're no fun, but I'm going to make things better for me by forcing your monster face down for 500 life points," she continued and the witch's hands glowed as the bird was forced face down.

"What's the point of that?"

"Thanks to my equip spell, you take trampling damage, now Goodwitch attack his Sonic Bird with Double Saber Technique!" Quin said as the witch flew forward and slashed through the bird with her sabers and it let out a squawk.

"Is that all?" Raum asked.

 _He's lucky I can only attack twice when he has a monster,_ Quin thought and shook her head as she looked at her monster. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(Q: 7500) - (R: 6700)**

Raum gestured and another card appeared in front of him which he pointed at and it turned around. The monster that appeared was grey-ish green with a mass of hands around it (1400/1000).

 _Great, Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands,_ she thought as a new card appeared in front of Raum. "So, let me guess, you're going to summon Ruin or Demise? That's nothing I can't handle."

"I know," Raum said. "But its not the Ruin or Demise you're thinking of. I activate the ritual spell End of the World, and I'll sacrifice my Manju of the Ten Thousand Hands for it!"

The sky above them swirrled around before a beam of light hit Manju and it vanished. The monster that emerged from the light resembled the infamous Ruin, Queen of Oblivion only younger and her red and black outfit was less elaborate along with her staff (1700/1000).

"Welcome to the field, Ruin, Angel of Oblivion!" Raum said as the fairy spun her staff around and gave Quin a wicked smile.

 _Okay, that's new,_ Quin thought as she took a step back.

"And that activates the effects of both Ascending Soul and Break of the World, the former lets me return Manju to my hand and the latter lets me draw a card," he said as he took one card out of his graveyard and drew a card. "And I'll equip Ruin with the Ritual Weapon spell card."

A golden weapon appeared on Ruin's free arm, it looked a bit like a crossbow and she grinned evily as she pointed it at Quin and her attack rose to 3200.

"Okay, that's not good," Quin said as she took a step back.

"Ruin, take out her Goodwitch with Oblivion Staff!" Raum ordered and the wicked fairy spun her staff and shot a burst of magical energy at Goodwitch who screamed as she shattered. "And I'll end my turn."

 _I guess that means this Ruin doesn't have the older version's full effect,_ Quin thought, that was a relief at least, but it was still going to be hard to get around.

 **(Q: 6600) - (R: 6700)**

"Come on deck, don't let me down," Quin said as she drew her next card and her face fell. _Kozmo Tincan? Of all the times this could've been useful, this isn't one of them._

"Well?" Raum asked in his raspy voice. "Are you going to make a move or do you realize how pointless it is?"

"Nothing is pointless, everything has a purpose," Quin said as she looked at her hand and selected another card. "Just because you don't see it doesn't mean I can't, I'll set this monster in defense mode and call it a turn."

The set monster materialized in front of her as she looked at the remaining two cards in her hand. She just had to hope that she'd get something good next turn.

 **00000**

Unknown to Quin, the duel was being observed from another plane of existance. Three figures were watching it, one was an old man, the second was a large creature that was difficult to describe, resembling an eel or other aquatic creature, and the third was a young woman.

They were the triad that made up the leadership of the Doomdreamers. They were the ones that Raum had made the deal with, and they weren't about to let it all fall apart when they were so close to success.

The three eyed the viewing orb nervously, they had known that there was a risk of this plan being threatened but they hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"I don't like this," the old man said with a frown. "Raum assured us that he can deal with any mortal interference, but Morgana's Kin is in league with the Gods. If they get word to them that..."

 _"Morgana's Kin is still mortal despite all the abilities and technology at their fingertips,"_ the Aboleth pointed out. _"They cannot be everywhere at once. If Raum is defeated, then we can pull him out and fall back to the secondary location."_

"The secondary location is only so secure," the old man said with a scowl. "It was a mistake to set up there with the constant threat of his forces breathing down our necks."

"The secondary location is secure enough," the woman said with a shake of her head. "He's too busy with his big project to actually pose a threat to our forces in that Dimension."

 _"Besides, would you have preferred the Xyz Dimension where we'd be in the line of fire?"_ The Aboleth said with a telepathic chuckle. _"The Shadowchasers there aren't as strong as in the others. They have yet to narrow down our actual home base, and it will take more power than they can bring to bear right now to destroy the Ziggurat in Demanscus completely."_

"Yes, even one of their Dreadnoughts can't wipe Tharizdun's influence," the old man said with a nod. "You had better be right, the last thing we need is to fail because of this group."

If the Aboleth had a mouth it would have frowned at that. It had encountered Morgana's Kin before and remembered them from its racial memory. They were mere mortals yes, but they were not to be underestimated.

It still had the scars from the time it encountered the infamous Morgan le Fay during one of the failed attempts to release Tharizdun. The plan had been stopped before it was even fully realized when she destroyed the cult that he had gathered and forced it to flee. It had been an embarrassment to the Aboleth and to the Doomdreamers and the two groups had been keeping a close eye on each other ever since.

And Morgan le Fay had been a renegade member of Morgana's Kin. It didn't like the idea of facing one with the full backing of the council and their Divine allies without a plan.

"So, what do we do if they do if they manage to trace it to our secondary location?" The Third asked.

"We have precautions in place to ensure their safety," the first said. "In the meantime, send word to Van Graff. We do not want a repeat of the Chicago incident, that was embarrassing enough the first time."

 _"Agreed, but Raum will deliver,"_ the Second said. _"This is our best opportunity to release our God. Tharizdun's escape is inevitable, but sometimes even entropy needs a little, boost to ensure victory."_

"Indeed," the Third said as she looked back at the screen. "It is only a matter of time before we succeed and then nothing will stop us."

They turned back to the viewing globe and went silent as they watched the duel.

 **00000**

"Why are you doing this?" Quin asked out loud.

"Because you're here," Raum said as he gestured and a card appeared in front of him. "Isn't that why anyone would duel?"

"I'm not talking about that, I meant why did you go through all this effort to try and release Tharizdun?" Quin asked as she crossed her arms and looked at him. "You talk like a nihlist sure, but why do you want to destroy everything? You're the Harbinger of the Apocalypse, not the bringer of it."

Raum paused a moment as he waved his hand a little, the cards shuffling around a little as he shot Quin a look. "Do you know why I exist?"

"Umm, no," Quin admitted. "There's not a lot of information on you in even the Origin Universe. What happened that caused you to want to destroy everything?"

"I was born!" Raum said, finally showing some emotion. "When I was born, the universe burned around me. I don't know what happened to send me back, but I've been living this horrible existance ever since. This may as well be Hell, I want to end it, I want to end it all."

"Okay... now things are starting to make more sense," Quin commented as she looked at the Demon Lord.

He wanted to destroy reality because he hated himself. It seemed strange that he'd pick freeing Tharizdun, but he was a being of chaos, it probably made sense to him, even if it was insane.

She just had to hope that she'd be able to stop him before it was too late.

"If that's all, it is my turn," Raum said as he pointed at a card and it flipped around. "I activate the spell card Pre-Preparation of Rites. This allows me to add one Ritual spell and one Ritual monster to my hand."

He waved his hand and two cards appeared in front of him. Quin gulped a little, if he ran a Ruin and Demise deck then that could only mean trouble.

"I activate my second copy of End of the World," Raum said as the pillar of light hit the ground again.

"Okay, what are you going to sacrifice? Unless your last card is a level 8 monster you'll have to get rid of Ruin," Quin pointed out.

"Oh I won't have to, the last card is this one," Raum said and pointed at the card which was revealed to be a black bird with two golden masks in place of its eyes. "I'm sure you know how Ritual Raven works."

She did, this wasn't the first time Quin had faced a Ruin and Demise deck, even if she didn't know the newer cards. Her home's AI favored the deck at times, and it had given her some trouble, but nothing she couldn't handle.

"So I'll sacrifice my Raven to special summon Demise, King of Armageddon," Raum said and a towering fiend with black armor and horns appeared and swung its axe (2400/2000) then the. "And I get my Ritual Raven back thanks to my spell card."

He gestured and the card appeared again in front of him.

 _Calm down Quin, he'd be foolish to use its effect now, you just have to make it through this one attack,_ Quin thought to herself.

"Demise, attack her face down monster with Doomsday Slash," Raum commanded as the fiend swung his axe and slammed it down on the face down monster that was revealed to be an armored monster that looked like an armored monkey with wings before it shattered. "What in the Abyss was that?"

"Kozmo Soartroopers," Quin said with a groan.

"Whatever, Ruin attack her directly," Raum said as the evil angel fired a beam of magic at Quin and she screamed in pain.

 _Of course... this isn't an ordinary duel, he's not about to make it easy..._ Quin said with a groan.

"I'll end my turn there," Raum said simply.

 **(Q: 3400) - (R: 6700)**

 _Alright, I've got a card that can help, I just need to draw a good monster for it,_ Quin thought as she drew her next card and smiled a little when she saw what it was. "I summon my Kozmo Tincan!"

A rusty monster appeared in front of her, it looked like a small old-timey robot with a funnel on its head. It let out a few beeps and whirrs as it rolled forward.

"A machine?"

"A psychic actually," Quin said and got a look from Raum. "I didn't design the cards, they're supposed to be the pilots for the stronger cards. But that's not the point, I now banish Tincan to special summon a level 2 or higher Kozmo from my hand, and I'll pick Kozmoll Dark Lady!"

Music began to play as a woman strode out on the field. She was dressed in purple armored robes with a pointed purple witch's hat and a mask covering her face. She drew a wand and ignited a violet colored blade (2200/1800).

"Its still too weak to destroy my monsters," Raum said.

"Oh, you're right, I guess I'll have to change that with my spell card Future Glow!" Quin said as she slid the card into her disk and took a monster out of her graveyard and pocketed it. "I banish my Goodwitch and all my Psychics gain 800 attack points."

Raum stared passively as Dark Lady's attack rose to 3000.

"Dark Lady, attack his Demise with Djem So Slash!" Quin said and the witch raised her hand and pulled the fiend in close before she slashed at it and it shattered.

"Is that all?" Raum asked. "You'll have to try harder than that."

 _He's right, but I can destroy his Ruin as soon as she attacks,_ Quin thought with a smirk as she looked at one of her face downs. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(Q: 3400) - (R: 6100)**

Raum simply gestured and a new card appeared in front of him. He pointed at it and it turned around as a fiendish gentleman in a black coat and top hat appeared behind him.

 _Card Trader huh? I shouldn't be surprised,_ Quin thought as she looked at the fiendish figure.

"I'll summon Manju again," he added and the fairy monster with multiple hands appeared again as a new card appeared in front of him. "Which means I can add another Ritual card to my hand."

 _Great, that means all he needs is another one of his ritual monsters,_ Quin thought as she looked at the demon lord nervously for a moment.

"Luckily for you I can't do anything with it... yet," Raum said as he pointed at Ruin. "Ruin, take out her Dark Lady with Rod of Ragnarok."

The angel spun her rod around again and fired a burst of energy at Dark Lady. All of a sudden a strange set of headgear appeared on her and she glowed as her attack rose to 3600 and she slashed through the evil angel.

"What was that?" Raum said as he saw that a card had flipped up on Quin's side of the field.

"That was my ESP Amplifier spell card, it gives my Psychics 300 attack points for every one that's been banished," Quin explained. "So my Dark Lady was too strong for your monster to get through."

Raum glowered and shook his head. "Fine, I'll end my turn there."

"Which means Dark Lady is banished," Quin said as the armored monster vanished from in front of her. _For now at least._

 **(Q: 3400) - (R: 5700)**

Quin drew her next card and paused a moment, it was going to be a risk but if it paid off she might get the right cards. She looked back at Raum and nodded as she slid the card into her disk. "I activate Spellbooks Inside the Pot, so now we both can draw three cards," she said as she picked up the next three cards from her deck.

"You know that helps me too right?" Raum asked as he gestured and three cards appeared in front of him.

"I'm very much aware of that," Quin said as she looked at her three new cards and paused a moment. The last card she had drawn was one of the strange monsters Leslie had given her, while she had read up on how to use them, she had hoped to test them out before betting her life on them.

Not that it would be very useful right now, she needed to save it for later if she was going to use it right.

"Well?" Raum asked.

"I'll set one card face down and summon Kozmo Farmgirl in attack mode!" She said and a young woman with long red hair tied into pigtails and dressed in a skintight green outfit with a short cape appeared and drew a blaster, giving it a spin (1500/1000 + 800). "And I'll add my trap card, Brain Hazard which lets me bring back one banished Psychic monster."

A purple sword ignited as the Dark Lady appeared again (2200/1800 + 800). She and Farmgirl exchanged a look for a moment with a glare from Farmgirl before they looked back at Raum.

"Your monsters don't like each other very much," Raum said.

"You really need to watch more Earth movies, these two are enemies," Quin said with a light chuckle. "The Kozmo monsters are based on Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz with these two being based on the heroes and villains from each one. So, of course they don't like each other, but they're willing to work together against you."

Raum just snorted a little at that. "There's hardly any point to your stories," he said.

"We'll see about that, Farmgirl start things off by taking out Manju with Trick Shot!" Quin said as the Farmgirl spun her blaster and fired at the fairy who shattered. "And I get her effect, by paying 500 life points I can add one Kozmo card to my hand."

She took a card out of her deck and looked at it. _My Wickedwitch should come in handy later,_ she thought as she put it in her hand. "Now Dark Lady, attack directly with Djem So Slash!"

The Dark Lady held her sword aloft and charged at Raum. Raum pointed at another card and it turned around and a golden sphere with legs and arms and two eyes appeared and rolled into the witch and pushed her back, forcing her to her knees.

"What was that?" Quin demanded. "That looked like a Kuriboh mixed with Ra's sphere mode!"

"That was Sphere Kuriboh," Raum said simply. "I discarded him and forced your monster into defense mode, simple as that."

 _Great, and something tells me it has another trick or he wouldn't include it in a deck like this,_ Quin thought as she looked at the card in her hand. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(Q: 2900) - (R: 4800)**

Raum gestured and another card appeared and then nodded to the fiendish man behind him and the card vanished again. "I'll shuffle this card back into my deck and draw another card," he said and gestured and a new card appeared in front of him.

 _Well, at least that means he's not rigging his deck,_ Quin thought, but she shivered a little. She got a strng feeling of dread coming from one of the cards, and that worried her more than anything else. "I activate Psychic Rejuvination so I gain 1000 life points for every psychic monster I have!"

Dark Lady and Farmgirl glowed as energy flew into Quin. She took a deep breath and looked back at Raum who was unphased.

"I activate my final copy of End of the World," Raum said as the beam of light once more appeared in front of him. "And I'll sacrifice the Ruin, Queen of Oblivion in my hand and the Sphere Kuriboh in my graveyard using its effect."

The strange Kuriboh and a hauntingly beautiful woman with long white hair and dressed in a red and black dress appeared and flew into the beam of light.

"And I can summon one of the three strongest monsters in my deck," Raum said as the light started to coalesce.

The monster that descended looked like Ruin, Queen of Oblivion at first glance. However her hair was longer and her dress and staff were even more intricate, this time with gold in it as she spun it around with a haunting laugh that sent a chill running up and down Quin's spine (2900/3000).

This was no mere monster, this was an embodiment of chaos and malice itself. She gave Quin a wicked smile as she raised her staff and the temple around them shook.

"And now thanks to my field spell, I'll destroy your Dark Lady," Raum continued as a vortex appeared above her and she was drawn into it. "And I'll get rid of your Future Glow thanks to my spell card Mystical Space Typhoon."

A massive gust of wind flew over the field and the spell card shattered and Farmgirl's attack returned to 1500.

"Now Ruin, take out her Farmgirl with Desolation Invocation," Raum said as the wicked angel laughed and energy built up in her staff and she fired it at the Farmgirl who screamed as she shattered. "And that's not all, you take damage equal to your monster's original attack."

 _Oh, crap,_ Quin thought as the energy hit her and she screamed.

"Go ahead, scream all you want, the universe will join you soon enough," Raum said with a wicked laugh. "I end my turn, take your next move if you can."

 **(Q: 2000) - (R: 4800)**

 **00000**

"She's in trouble and we can't get in contact with her, why aren't we sending her back up already?" Leslie asked as she looked at Alexandra. "What's going on?"

"We're getting interference from some extradimensional force," Alexandra said as they worked on trying to get it working again. "All our portals into the realm are being blocked."

"Great..." Leslie said softly as she looked at the monitors that were still showing the duel between Quin and Raum. "Do you think she has a chance?"

"I've pulled up the information on the cards Raum is using," Alexandra said with a shake of her head. "Ruin, Graceful Queen of Oblivion isn't even the stronger of the two, but its very dangerous. On the bright side because he had to sacrifice his Sphere Kuriboh to summon it, she can only attack once."

"Yeah, but that one attack can still deal a lot of damage," Leslie said as she felt Alexandra place her hand on her shoulder.

"Leslie, I know why you're worried about her," she said softly. "You've carried this burden for awhile, does she even know?"

"No, I never told her," Leslie admitted as she brushed her hair back. "It was before I got recruited, I didn't even realize who she was until after I recruited her. I'm sorry, I should've been more careful."

"Don't worry Leslie, you're going to be just fine," Alexandra said and placed her hand on Leslie's shoulder. "You're lucky you found her after the dimensions split. Don't worry, she's going to be just fine, I know it."

"I hope you're right," Leslie said.

"Well, she's got half of a good combo already, she just needs one card," Alexandra said and looked at the screen. "We'll keep working on breaking through the interference, just stay strong okay?"

Leslie nodded and looked back at the screen.

 **00000**

 _Come on deck, don't let me down now,_ Quin thought as she drew her next card and smiled, it wasn't going to destroy Ruin but it was enough to survive the duel at least. "I summon the monster I searched for with Farmgirl's effect, Kozmo Wickedwitch!"

A woman dressed in black robes with a hood pulled over her face and silver legs appeared and drew a longer wand, this one activated and a red blade appeared out of both sides (1900/300).

"She's still too weak to destroy Ruin, and I'll finish you off next turn," Raum said.

"We'll see about that, I equip her with Telekinetic Charging Cell!" Quin said as two objects appeared around Wickedwitch and a green light formed around her. "And she's still strong enough to destroy Manju, so attack with your Fate Slash!"

The woman ran forward and slashed through the fairy who screamed as he shattered. Raum just looked on as if nothing had changed.

"Is that really all you can do?" He asked.

 _Truthfully yes, I don't have any of my strongest monsters right now and he's gotten through one combo after another,_ Quin thought as she looked at the card in her hand. "I end my turn there."

 **(Q: 2000) - (R: 4300)**

Raum gestured and another card appeared in front of him. He frowned a moment but didn't make a move to use Card Trader.

"Didn't draw another monster you could use huh?" Quin asked.

"No, no I didn't," Raum said. "But I can still finish this off here and now, Ruin attack her Wickedwitch and end the duel."

"I activate Wickedwitch's effect, by paying 1000 life points she won't be destroyed!" Quin countered as a shield appeared around Wickedwitch, but Quin's life points stayed the same until the attack hit.

"What? I thought you had to pay life points," Raum said confused.

"Normally I do, but my equip spell here provides a loophole," Quin said as she nodded to the spell card. "As long as its equipped to my monster, I don't have to pay anything for her effect."

"Clever..." Raum growled. "But you still took damage."

"Is there anything else you want to do?" Quin asked with a smirk.

"No, I end my turn there," Raum said with a shake of his head.

 **(Q: 1000) - (R: 4300)**

Quin drew her next card and nodded, it would at least help give her more options so she slid it into her disk. "I'll set one card face down and switch my Wickedwitch to defense mode," she said and the witch knelt in defense mode.

"You don't have a lot of options do you?" Raum asked with a smirk.

 _He's right, if I summon anything it'll be easy pickings for Ruin unless I get one of my strongest monsters,_ Quin thought as she looked her hand over for a moment. "I'll end my turn there."

Raum gestured and a new card appeared before he turned and nodded to the fiendish man and another card vanished and a new card appeared.

 _I see he's getting use out of that Card Trader,_ Quin thought as she narrowed her eyes a little.

"I activate the card Litmus Doom Ritual," he said as a tall altar with towers appeared behind him as energy crackled from it.

 _Wait, Litmus Doom Swordsman? Why would he use that?_ Quin thought as she saw Ritual Raven appear again before it shattered.

A monster dressed in white with gold epilets and a long maroon cape with a golden headdress appeared holding two swords in his hands (0/0). Ascending Soul glowed again and a card appeared in Raum's hand.

"You know the story of Ruin and Demise of course," Raum said. "Two beings created by the forces of law that were corrupted by chaos so they saught out a way to destroy the world. What some forget is that a third being was born, this one on Earth, but he has little interest in working with the others, except for now."

"Yeah, but he doesn't have any..." Quin started to say as Raum pointed at the face down card he had set during his first turn which was revealed to be Spirit Barrier and Litmus Doom Swordsman's score went up (3000/3000). "Oh."

"Since there's no point in attacking right now, I will end my turn there," Raum finished as he gave Quin a nod.

Quin drew a card and smiled a little when she saw what it was and slid it into her duel disk. "I activate my spell card Soul Absorption, now every time a card is removed from play I gain 500 life points."

Raum narrowed his eyes a little at that. "And let me guess, you have a card that will remove them from play."

"Give the man a cigar, I activate the trap card Psychic Trigger, since I have less life points than you I can banish two monsters and draw two cards," she said as she took two cards out of her graveyard and pocketed them before she drew two more cards and looked at them as light fell around her. _This will help hopefully, I'll save it for later._

She slid a card into her disk and a face down card appeared in front of her.

"You didn't get much did you?"

"I got enough," Quin said as she shuffled her hand a little. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(Q: 2000) - (R: 4300)**

Raum gestured as a new card appeared in front of him. He nodded to the fiendish man behind him and the card vanished before a new card appeared in front of him. "I activate my trap card, the Transmigration Prophescy," he said as he nodded to a face down card that flipped up.

 _Great, that means he can re-use two of his cards easily,_ Quin thought as she looked at her hand.

"I'll end my turn there since I still can't destroy your monster," Raum said with a nod.

Quin drew a card and smiled as she held her disk up and slid it into it. "Time for a change of scenery, I activate the field spell Kozmotown!"

The city around them rumbled as massive buildings burst out of the ground and towered over the two duelists. Vehicles flew overehead as Raum's monsters looked around in shock.

"Welcome to the Emerald City Planet," Quin saidwith a chuckle.

"Your field didn't increase your monster's attack by one point," Raum said with a frown. "What's the point of that?"

"This is the point, I'm activating one of its effects, by paying 100 life points I can return Kozmo Tincan to my hand," Quin said as she took the card out again. "And I'll end my turn there."

 **(Q: 1900) - (R: 4300)**

Raum gestured and scowled when he saw what it was then it vanished again and was replaced with a new card which made him scowl again.

"No luck?" Quin asked with a smirk.

"Shut up," Raum said with an inhuman growl. "I pass this turn."

Quin drew her next card and nodded a little bit. "I'm activating the other effect of my field spell," she said as she held up three cards showing them as Kozmo Landwalker, Kozmo Tincan, and Kozmo Strawman. "I can reveal tehse three cards and then shuffle them back into my deck..."

She slid them into her deck and the auto-shuffle shuffled the deck as three cards slid out and she picked them up.

"And I can draw three cards," she finished as she looked at them and paused a moment, they weren't exactly what she needed but if she could draw the right card they'd do the job.

"Well?" Raum asked.

"Hold your horses, the time will come soon," Quin said as she shuffled her hand a little. "I'll end my turn there."

She didn't want to admit it but she was afraid, she had gotten a sensation when Raum had drawn last turn similar to when he had drawn Ruin, but this one was worse. She shivered a little, suddenly very afraid of what might happen.

Raum gestured and a new card appeared in front of him and he grinned evily. "I summon my Ritual Raven," he said and the same Raven appeared in front of him (300/300).

 _He summoned it? That's not a good sign,_ Quin thought.

"I activate my ritual spell, Endless of the World!" Raum said as a ritual sigil appeared around his monsters as Ritual Raven began to glow brightly. "And I sacrifice my Ritual Raven to summon this monster..."

The monster that rose was a towering fiend with metal armor with horns on the shoulders and horns on his head. He let out a roar as he raised his hand and a massive axe with a golden blade appeared (3000/3000).

"My Demise, Supreme King of Armageddon!" Raum said. "The last monster you will ever see."

"We'll see about that..." Quin said.

"I'll set one card face down and activate Demise's effect, by paying 2000 life points I can destroy every other card on the field!" Raum said with a laugh as the fiend raised his axe. "Go, Doomsday Purge!"

Demise slammed his axe down on the ground as the ground cracked and every card started to shatter.

"I activate Wickedwitch's effect one last time!" Quin said as the barrier formed around Wickedwitch again just as the green sphere shattered.

"But that's the last time you can do that," Raum said. "Because now you take 200 life points for each one."

"WHAT?" Quin shouted and covered her eyes as her life points fell hard. She was surprised to realize that she hadn't lost, and looked up to see the three ritual monsters still standing there. "But..."

"Ruin's effect keeps my Ritual monsters from being destroyed by effects," Raum said. "And Demise's does the same for battle. "But you can't do that again, so next turn the duel is over on my next turn. I end my turn there, so make your last move."

 **(Q: 500) - (R: 2300)**

 _Okay, this is it, I have to draw the right card, right now,_ Quin thought as she reached for her deck and slowly drew her next card. She blinked when she looked at it, it was one of the rarest Kozmo cards and had been a gift from Leslie. "I play the spell card Star Forge, since the only card I have on the field is a Kozmo monster I can draw two cards."

She drew two cards and Raum scoffed a little. "Draw all you want, it won't make a difference."

"Really?" Quin asked with a smirk. "Because I just drew what I needed, its time to set the Pendulum Scale!"

"The what?" Raum asked.

"I set my scale 2 Kozmo Warlock and my Scale 9 Kozmo Solar Destroyer!" Quin said as she placed the cards on her disk and the word "PENDULUM" appeared on it. "Swing forth my Pendulum and carve forth the arc of victory!"

One monster appeared, it resembled an older man's head with long ears with the number 3 under it. The other was a large spaceship that looked thin and sleak at the top with a long hull with a number 8 under it.

"Big deal, you can't attack with them," Raum said.

"I don't have to, I can Pendulum Summon monsters from my hand," Quin said as she raised two cards up into the air. "So welcome to the field Kozmo Sliprider and Kozmo Delta Shuttle!"

A red spacecraft that looked like a fighter flew in (2300/800) followed by another ship, this one off white and purple with long pointed wings (2000/2000).

"You almost had me worried, but your monsters are too weak," Raum said with a smirk. "You should have just given up, it would've been less embarrassing."

"I'm not done yet, I'm using my Delta Shuttle's effect, by discarding one Kozmo from my deck I decrease Ruin's attack by that monster's level x100," Quin said as she took a card that she showed as a level 10 monster called Kozmo Dark Planet as Ruin's attack fell to 1900.

Raum was about to say something when Quin slid a card into her disk and his eyes went wide when it was revealed to be Limiter Removal and the monsters' attack doubled to 4600 and 4000.

"Sliprider, finish this duel with Ruby Strife!" Quin ordered as the fighter flew in and fired several bolts of energy at Ruin. She wasn't destroyed, but the damage was already done.

 **(Q: 500) - (R: 0)**

"Now Raum, you're going to..." Quin started to say as the ground beneath them started to shake.

"I'm not going to do anything," Raum said with a smirk as he backed up. "This isn't over Quin Lamont, and your bosses need to know that. I'll see you again, you can count on it."

Quin drew her sword and started to run at Raum but a portal appeared behind him and he just laughed as he backed through it. It vanished just as she was about to reach it.

"Damn it..." She muttered, but the shaking hadn't stopped. She looked out, the city and the realm itself was on the verge of falling apart. She pressed the communicator quickly. "Leslie, Alexandra, anyone?"

She just got silence. She tried to form a portal of her own, but had no luck, she groaned and hit a button on her duel disk as a portal started to form in front of her.

It was an emergency portal that would take her back to the Standard Dimension, she had to get out of there fast. She took one last look back at the altar and then jumped through it.

She had to get word to both Morgana's Kin and the Shadowchasers, someone had pulled Raum out of there.

 **00000**

 _Ruin, Angel of Oblivion, Break of the World, Endless of the World, Ruin, Graceful Queen of Oblivion, Demise, Supreme King of Armageddon, Litmus Doom Ritual, and Litmus Doom Swordsman are all Japanese cards that are not yet released in the U.S._

 _Spellbooks Inside the Pot was used in the GX Manga._

 **00000**

 _ **Star Forge.**_

 _ **Spell Card.**_

 _ **Image: A massive space station with a castle on top.**_

 _ **This card can only be activated when the only card you have on the field is a "Kozmo" monster. Draw two cards, during the end phase banish all the cards in your hand. You can only activate one "Star Forge" card per turn.**_

 _ **Kozmo Warlock**_

 _ **7**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Psychic/Pendulum/Effect**_

 _ **0/2800**_

 _ **Scale: 2 (red) 2 (blue)**_

 _ **Pendulum Effect: You can only use this monster to pendulum summon "Kozmo" monsters. Once per turn, when you special summon a "Kozmo" monster you gain 500 life points.**_

 _ **Effect: Once per turn during yoru standby phase, you can pay 500 life points to shuffle one psychic-type monster in your graveyard into your deck then draw 1 card. You can banish this card to special summon one level 6 or lower "Kozmo" monster from your hand.**_

 _ **Kozmo Solar Destroyer**_

 _ **8**_

 _ **Dark**_

 _ **Machine/Pendulum/Effect**_

 _ **2800/2000**_

 _ **Scale: 9 (red) 9 (blue)**_

 _ **Pendulum Effect: This monster can only be used to pendulum summon "Kozmo" monsters. Once per turn when a Kozmo monster would be banished, you can pay 500 life points to shuffle it back into your deck.**_

 _ **Effect: When this monster is special summoned, you can destroy one face-up monster and one face-up spell or trap card on the field. When this monster is destroyed, you can banish it to special summon one level 7 or lower Kosmo monster from your banished zone instead.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Phew, finally done with that, and things are now getting interesting huh?**_

 _ **Well, next time Quin makes it to the Standard Dimension and inform the Shadowchasers of exactly what is going on. What's going to happen now? Will they be able to trace the destination? Find out next time in, "World Legacy's Secret."**_

 **00000**

 **Chapter 4.**

 _ **Abrik-Thon, The Universe that Dreams.**_

 _ **Universe CV-2202, Universe Cluster Alpha-12.**_

"Outside the ordered universe is that amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which blasphemes and bubbles at the center of all infinity — the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time and space amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin monotonous whine of accursed flutes."

While H.P. Lovecraft spoke of Azathoth, the blind idiot piper, its not entirely clear if such a being exists around most universes. The idea of a being that dreams up reality is however not completely unfounded.

One such universe is designated CV-2202, also known as Abrik-Thon. The story as he tells it is that upon the moment of creation in the universe given form and thought. He exists at the very center of the universe, and the universe around him is his creation, his dreams given form.

Abrik-Thon is not a being of law or chaos, perhaps he's above such things, or he's just neutral. He appears throughout his dreams as his avatars, which is where information on him tends to come from. Many beings regard him as a God, which for all intents and purposes he is, but he doesn't seem to seek out followers.

Contact with Abrik-Thon's avatars have found them surprisingly friendly and curious about travelers from other universes. He has made contact with many different individuals from the multiverse and has learned a lot from them, giving him a lot of knowledge and wisdom about places that would be hard to learn about otherwise.

More than that, some say he as a deity has access to knowledge that mortals do not. He is a curious being and is occasionally capable of sending aspects outside of his universe as well.

One of the bigger questions, one that not even Abrik-Thon can answer, is why he exists to begin with. Some speculation is that he was created by some higher being by accident, perhaps empowered by the Power Primordial that made him into the being that he became instead of creating an entire universe.

Whatever the reason for his existance, the greatest concern is that he may wake up. The universe is very large, with an unknown amount of worlds with living beings on them, and if he awakes they may cease to exist.

This is something he is aware of, and it worries him. But for now he continues to slumber, hoping to never wake up.

 **Story Ideas:** Obviously, including Abrik-Thon in any conventional Shadowchasers fanfic would be difficult. However there are ways to use him, perhaps if you wanted to include Morgana's Kin they could need access to information that only Abrik-Thon could provide.

Also there is even the possibility of an aspect appearing in the Shadowchasers universe requesting help. After all, wherever there is dreams, there is always the risk of nightmares that could begin to threaten Abrik Thon.

Abrik-Thon himself is for all intents and purposes an eldritch abomination, and that could easily play into things. Perhaps whatever force created him didn't intend for him to create an entire reality.

 **Deck Ideas:** One of the aspects appears to have traveled to a universe that has Duel Monsters and through it had introduced it to his creation. Abrik-Thon through his aspects uses a variety of different decks, sometimes favoring Spirit monsters and other beings, but he is likely to use just about anything that catches his fancy.


	5. World Legacy's Secret

_Alright, the preliminaries are over, we've met our main characters and we have some information on the villains._

 _But the heroes don't know everything yet, so its time for them to learn more information on what's going on. And perhaps a bit more about what's going on with the Yu-Gi-Oh world and Shadowchasers in general._

 _So, lets begin._

 _Disclaimer: I only own what I created._

 **00000**

 **0000000000**

 **CHAPTER 5:**

 **WORLD LEGACY'S SECRET**

 **0000000000**

 **00000**

 _ **I have to admit, this isn't something I ever expected to be faced with.**_

 _ **Yeah, I'd heard a lot about Quin Lamont and Morgana's Kin, but I have to admit in the years I've worked for the Shadowchasers I haven't actually met them. They're, something of an enigma in the Shadowchasers given that some of us aren't even sure why they made a deal with us to begin with.**_

 _ **Now we're all here because there's a lot we don't know. And there's a name that Quin told us, one that we all do know and don't need any more information on.**_

 _ **Tharizdun.**_

 **00000**

Judy LaBaron was hard at work in her office in Shadowchaser's HQ. She was mostly going over the reports from Shadowchasers worldwide, but for the most part it was fairly normal.

A team in China had busted a Trafficking ring that was working for one of the local Triads and had been targetting Shadowkind wanting to get out of the country. The big boss however had managed to escape leaving the team bewildered.

Most of it other than that was fairly standard though. There were some strange reports about energy readings coming from Japan, but they seemed to be minor enough that they weren't considered a threat.

She sighed a little and shuffled her papers a little. She hadn't been in charge of the Shadowchasers for more than a few years at this point since her adopted father had passed the mantle on to her, and it still took a lot of getting used to.

But at least today was one of the more uneventful days. She finished up one stack of papers and was about to start another one when a portal suddenly opened up in the corner of her office.

"What the..." she said as she reached for the sword she always kept close at hand in case of an attack. You couldn't just open a portal into her office, it would take either a magician of incredible power or a special portal.

A figure came diving out of the portal and landed in a heap on the floor.

"Owww... not one of my better landings..." A young woman's voice said and Judy looked over the desk to see Quin Lamont laying there rubbing her backside.

"You know, you can just go in through the front door Quin," Judy commented as she got up and walked around to offer the young woman a hand.

"Sorry, I didn't expect to be dropped off in your office," Quin said as she got to her feet shakily. "I need to get in contact with Morgana's Kin as soon as possible."

"Why? What's going on?" Judy asked suddenly on edge.

"We have a problem, a big problem, and its connected to this universe," Quin said with a shake of her head. "Reality itself is at stake and my communicators didn't work last time."

Judy didn't need any further prompting. The two of them headed out to get to the emergency line that had been set up.

She had a feeling this was going to be one of those weeks.

 **00000**

"I'll talk to you later Myra," Eva said as the elf headed out of the townhouse. Eva smiled a little as she watched her friend head off to her car and closed the door behind her.

"She seemed nice," Steven commented as he entered the room and Eva jumped.

"Don't you start too!" Eva said with a groan as she facepalmed a little.

"What? I was just commenting is all," Steven said with a shrug. "Don't look at me, I'm not like Charlie I don't want to interfere with your love life."

"Look... Steven, I just," Eva said and rubbed her arm a little for a moment. "Its not that I wouldn't be interested in her, but last time I was in a relationship it didn't end well for her. Myra is nice, and we've been good friends for awhile, I'm just afraid of something happening to her too."

"I understand," Steven said. "But if you worried about that forever then you'll just be alone for the rest of your life. I think, you should at least think about giving it a chance. Like I said, I'm not going to try and interfere with your love life, but you should at least think about it."

"Yeah... maybe," Eva said with a shake of her head. "I'll, think about it at least, thanks Steven, you've given me a lot to think about."

"Hey, that's what I do," the Red-Eyes duelist said with a shrug. "Maybe give her a gift or something, see if maybe that'll help you reach out to her."

"Yeah, maybe, I just have to think of..." Eva said as she thought about it for a long moment. "Actually, I may have something, I just have to find it."

"That's good," Steven said with a smile and a nod. "You deserve to be happy, just give it a chance."

Eva took a deep breath as she thought about it. Maybe he was right and she was just holding on too much to Victoria and what happened to her. Though, sometimes that wasn't an easy thing to let go of, but she wanted a chance to at least try and move on with her life.

She just hoped that she could actually work up the courage to do it. Sure, she had managed to take on some of the nastiest Shadowkind criminals in Paradise City, but she was too nervous to actually come out and tell a woman how she felt about them.

"Hey you two, we just got word from the boss," Charlie said coming in. "She wants us at HQ ASAP."

"Did she say why?"

"I don't know, but its got to be something big," Charlie said with a shake of her head. "Come on, we need to get going."

The other two nodded as they went to get ready to head for Shadowchasers HQ.

 **00000**

On the other side of the world Judy and Quin were talking over a communicator to Leslie and Alexandra. Quin had just finished filling them in on exactly what had happened in Demanscus. They had told Judy everything they knew so far, and she didn't like what she was hearing.

"You're absolutely certain?" Judy asked as she looked at Quin and then at the images of the two older women. "Tharizdun and his cult have been quiet ever since the incident in Chicago. Why are they suddenly becoming active again?"

"Whatever deal they've worked out with Raum is giving them more of a motivation to be active again," Leslie said with a shake of her head. "We've tracked the connection to your universe, though we're still trying to figure out exactly where in the universe it is. Its the magical equivalent to tracking a phone across several countries."

"Great," Judy said with a shake of her head. "So, you're telling me that there's a threat to this world from Tharizdun, and we don't even know where its coming from?"

"We're currently in the process of tracking it down," Alexandra said with a shake of her head. "I know its not the best news, but we can't rush it or there might not be any chance of success. I promise, as soon as we know more we'll let you know."

"I'm guessing its not the Great Sigil again," Judy commented. "What do we know about Raum?"

"Not a whole lot," Quin admitted. "We haven't had a lot of contact with him before I went to Demanscus. He's, dangerous, he comes across as a nihilist and he's interested in destroying everything, which explains why he wants to release Tharizdun. By his own claims, he was born before an apocalyptic event, but beyond that, I don't think we're going to get much of an answer."

"Yeah, it really doesn't," Judy said with a shake of her head. "So, what are we going to do now?"

"There's not a lot we can do until..." Alexandra started to say when there was a beeping sound offscreen. "Oh, well, I guess its already done."

There was a pause as the older woman looked at the readings with her brow furrowed. "It seems that its coming from Paradise City."

Judy groaned, of course it was coming from Paradise City. The Japanese city had become something of a hot bed for trouble, first they had made that deal with Declan Akaba, then the new type of summoning, and that wasn't going into some of the stories that she had heard about it.

She sighed a little as she looked between them again.

"Alright, I'll have the Paradise City Shadowchasers come here for a debriefing, maybe they've seen something," Judy said with a sigh. At this point she didn't really have much of a choice. "Hopefully, we can stop them before it goes too far."

"Yeah..." Quin said with a shake of her head.

The very idea of Tharizdun escaping was enough to send chills down all of their spines. If the Doomdreamers had really figured out a way to free him, then they were going to be in more trouble than they could imagine. She sighed a little and looked at Leslie again for a long moment, she wished that she knew what to do right now, but for now, they had to do everything they could to stop them.

She just hoped that it was going to be enough.

 **00000**

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that..." Steven commented as the portal deposited the three Shadowchasers in the arrival area of Shadowchasers Headquarters.

"Yeah, travel by portal isn't that fun," Eva said with a groan as they looked around as Judy came in followed by a young woman they didn't recognize with black hair and dressed casually. "You wanted to see us boss?"

"Yes, but first I'd like to introduce you to Quin Lamont, she's Morgana's Kin's representative in the Shadowchasers," Judy said as she nodded to the woman. "Quin, this is Eva Roman, Steven Wright, and Charlotte Vaughn, they're our team in Paradise City."

"Its nice to meet all of you," Quin said with a smile as she shook hands with the three Shadowchasers. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances, but we have a bit of a crisis on our hands."

"What kind of crisis?" Eva asked, though she was afraid of the answer. Normally they'd have just told them what was going on back in Paradise City, the fact that they were called here meant that whatever it was, Judy didn't want to risk anyone else in the Shadowchasers finding out until the time was right.

"I'll explain in my office," Judy said as she lead them through the complex towards the main building of Shadowchasers Headquarters.

When they reached the office Judy sat down on the other side of the desk as Quin stood next to her. She sighed a moment and looked between the three Shadowchasers as if she was trying to figure out how to put it into words. She looked at Quin and gave her a nod.

"Quin knows more about the situation than I do," she finally said with a nod. "Quin, tell them everything you and your superiors told me."

Quin nodded as she explained everything that had happened so far. The Paradise City Shadowchasers listened in surprise, they had heard of the Doomdreamers and Tharizdun, who hadn't especially after what had happened in Chicago. But why would they be coming to Paradise City and what was going on? They still had a lot of questions, and they weren't sure they were going to like the answers.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Judy said with a sigh as she looked between the three of them with a sigh. "This is a major crisis that needs to be dealt with, but we don't even know where to start looking other than Paradise City."

"We'll do everything we can to help gain information on them at least," Eva said with a nod as she looked at her teammates for a long moment and then at Quin. "I'm guessing we can't find any more information in Demanscus."

"No, they sent a probe into the realm before you arrived," Quin said with a shake of her head. "There's nothing left to find there. The shadow game sped up the deterioration of the realm considerably."

"So Raum took out his own home base," Charlie said and frowned a little. "That's an odd move."

"Not really, if he really is a nihilist then he probably decided that it had served its purpose," Quin said. "But I don't think it was enough to actually stop whatever they have planned just because his altar was destroyed. So, the question now is where have they set up now?"

"It can't be in Paradise City, we'd have picked up readings if there was something that powerful," Steven said and looked at the others. "Right?"

"Unless they were masked, it wouldn't be the first time that someone hid something under the Shadowchasers' noses," Eva said with a shake of her head. "Though I don't understand why they picked Paradise City specifically."

Quin and Judy exchanged glances for a long moment as if they were trying to decide whether or not to share some information. Quin finally sighed and shook her head.

"There, is a possibility that they picked it because it's where the barrier between dimensions is weakest," she finally said with a shake of her head. "Its a long story and we're not entirely ready to share all the details, but this universe some years ago was split into four Dimensions."

"Wait, what?" Eva asked as she looked up in shock. "Okay, alternate universes is crazy enough, but you're telling us that this universe was split up? How does that even work?"

"Well, we don't know all the details," Quin admitted. "But basically a single Universe was split into four after a great catastrophe. There are four dimensions, Standard, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz. And each of them have their own unique qualities and areas that the divide between the dimensions are weakest, for the Standard Dimension its Paradise City."

"I see," Steven said as he looked at his teammates. Eva looked shocked, Charlie was a bit concerned but she didn't show much more than that right now. "So, what if the Doomdreamers are actually based out of some other Dimension?"

"That's possible, but all our information points to Paradise City for right now," Quin said with a shake of her head. "I know its a lot to take in, but I can assure you that all this information is true. We have to consider the possible consequences of Tharizdun's escape, if he is released then he's going to destroy not one but four realities. And this time, I doubt its going to be as simple as it was before to stop the destruction."

"Judy, is all of this true?" Eva asked as she looked at Judy who sighed and nodded.

"We've gotten confirmation from other sources," Judy said with a shake of her head. "It sounded to me like something out of science fiction, but the fact is that some people have been, remembering things. Like past lives, but things that we can't entirely explain."

"Then, we're going to have to stop the Doomdreamers, and that's that," Charlie said finally speaking up again. "If they're in Paradise City we can track them down from there. We need to get more information on this."

"Has there been any unusual activity around Paradise City?" Quin asked.

"Well, dueling-wise there's the advent of Pendulum monsters," Eva said. "But in terms of Shadow related crime, well..."

She looked at the others for a moment. Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz, those were all types of summoning and two of them had been used by duelists that they had faced over the past couple of days.

Was it possible that there was a connection there? It wasn't like you could just learn how to use them easily, so then maybe there was something more that they weren't being told.

"Eva, is everything okay?" Judy asked. "It looks like you have something on your mind."

"Maybe, there's a couple of criminals that we sent in yesterday, did you get any information on them?" Eva finally asked as her teammates looked at her surprised.

Judy paused a moment as she took out some files that had been brought in on the recent arrests from the Paradise City Shadowchasers. She flipped through them for a moment as she sighed and looked back at them.

"Sorry, I've been busy lately," she said with a shake of her head before she looked back at the files. "There's not a lot of information here other than their already established criminal records. Metais, as you know is a repeat offender while Diaonne is a reported hired gun and thief that some believe is connected to the Shadow Web..."

"The Shadow Web?" Steven asked as he looked at Judy and the others. "What is that, some extension of the internet or something?"

"Its something of a legend among Shadowjacks and Technomages," Charlie said with a shake of her head. "Its supposed to be part of the deep web, but its more, magical in nature if you believe the stories."

"We've never been able to prove it's existence since we can't just log into it through TOR or whatever," Judy said with a shake of her head. "For the time being there's not a lot we can do about it. Anyway, there doesn't seem to be very many common elements between the two Shadows."

"Darn..." Eva said as Judy picked up the third file and frowned a little when she looked it over.

"You said that Diana Farley went to the Leo Institute right?" Judy asked as she looked at Charlie.

"Yeah, she's one of the new students this year," Charlie said.

"Curious," Judy said as she looked them over again. "I thought it might be a coincidence, but there is a potential connection between the three. The Force of Nature Duel School."

The three Shadowchasers paused a moment. They all knew that name, it was one of the local Duel Schools in Paradise City that was considered one of the top schools just below the Leo Institute. They were one of the top contenders for the upcoming Arc League Championships as well.

And it would explain why two of the duelists had used summoning techniques that were usually unknown to others.

"Yes, if you see here, Metais worked as a janitor at the school, Diaonne actually took some night classes there apparently, or at least that's what it says," Judy said as they looked over the files.

"And Diane?" Charlie asked.

"She was a student there, until she was pulled out of it by her brother," Steven said as he looked up from the file. "Which happened a week before he was killed in a hit and run."

"It sounds to me like we have a connection between these three," Quin said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "Whether or not that actually means that its connected to the school is another question entirely."

"We only have circumstantial evidence so we can't even get a search warrant," Eva said with a shake of her head. "Do you have any suggestions as what we should do?"

"We wouldn't be breaking any rules by just visiting would we? Maybe if a certain former teacher from Leo Institute wanted to look into getting a job..." Steven said as he looked over at Charlie.

"It might be enough to get a passive scanner in," Charlie said. "But we've got enough to scan the entire city, why aren't we already picking something up?"

"I don't know, but whatever you do be careful," Judy said with a sigh as she looked back at Quin. "Quin, I know you have your own business to deal with, but can you go with them to Paradise City until we can figure out what's going on?"

"Yeah, I can do that," Quin said with a nod as she brushed her black hair back a little. "If you three don't mind, I don't want to impose or anything."

"No, we've got enough room back at the penthouse," Eva said with a shake of her head. "Don't worry Quin, we'll help you out."

"Okay, good," Judy said as she looked them over. "Then its all settled, you'll all return to Paradise City and do whatever you need to do in order to investigate the Force of Nature Duel School. I wish you all the best of luck, hopefully we'll be able to figure this out soon."

The four Shadowchasers nodded and headed out of the office. Judy sighed a little and leaned back, she wondered how Jalal would handle this situation. If there really was a connection to the Doomdreamers, then they had bigger problems than ever and needed to deal with them fast.

She sighed and hoped that everything was going to be okay.

 **00000**

"What do you know about this, Force of Nature Duel School?" Quin asked as Eva started to set up a room for her in the penthouse.

"About as much as anyone does honestly, they popped up around three years ago," Eva said as Quin set a picture on the table next to her bed. "Your family?"

"My friends actually, from my home universe," Quin said with a shake of her head as she picked it up and looked at it for a long moment. She looked at Eva who was looking at her confused. "Members of Morgana's Kin are usually assigned to the universe they were born in, but there are... complications with mine."

"What happened?" Eva asked, she was very curious about this woman all of a sudden. Quin frowned a little and shook her head as she looked at the floor. "Oh, that bad huh?"

"There are a lot of threats out there, Tharizdun is far from the only one," Quin said with a sigh as she shook her head. "Morgana's Kin recruits orphans when they need to because its simpler than recruiting women with families. Me, I've got my whole home universe in ruins because of a madman and his followers."

"What do you know about this, Force of Nature Duel School?" Quin asked as Eva started to set up a room for her in the penthouse.

"About as much as anyone does honestly, they popped up around three years ago," Eva said as Quin set a picture on the table next to her bed. "Your family?"

"My friends actually, from my home universe," Quin said with a shake of her head as she picked it up and looked at it for a long moment. She looked at Eva who was looking at her confused. "Members of Morgana's Kin are usually assigned to the universe they were born in, but there are... complications with mine."

"What happened?" Eva asked, she was very curious about this woman all of a sudden. Quin frowned a little and shook her head as she looked at the floor. "Oh, that bad huh?"

"There are a lot of threats out there, Tharizdun is far from the only one," Quin said with a sigh as she shook her head. "Morgana's Kin recruits orphans when they need to because its simpler than recruiting women with families. Me, I've got my whole home universe in ruins because of a madman and his followers."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Eva said with a frown as she looked back over at Quin. "That can't be easy..."

"I'm not the last survivor of the universe or something, but I don't know what happened to any of my friends," Quin said with a sigh and a shake of her head before she picked up her deck and looked at it for a moment. "I've tried using different decks than this you know... they never really worked for me like this one did, maybe because it was my original, maybe not, I don't really know."

"Mind if I see it?" Eva asked as she held her hand out.

"Knock yourself out," Quin said as she handed the deck over to her. "We're going to have to work together anyway."

Eva looked through the deck curiously for a moment as she looked it over. She hadn't really seen the Kozmo monsters before, she had certainly heard of the archetype but she had never really seen them before.

"Huh, what are these?" She asked as she picked up the two Pendulum Monsters. "These are Pendulum monsters aren't they? How'd you get these? I thought only Yuya Sakaki had any of these cards."

"Organization that can travel between universes remember?" Quin pointed out with a chuckle as she took the cards. "My mentor gave these to me not long ago. I admit I don't really know how she got them, I'm guessing she got it from a universe where Pendulums are more prevalent or from the Origin Universe's card stores."

"Oh, I see," Eva said as she examined the cards carefully for a moment before she handed the rest of the cards back to Quin. "I admit I'm kind of curious about them, I mean, they're kind of the new thing in Dueling."

"Don't worry about it, you never know, they might become more common," Quin said as she put her deck back in its box as they headed over to the window and looked out at the city. "I'm honestly not sure what to make of this place, it feels like there's something waiting to happen."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Eva said with a shrug. "There's a lot of things going on ever since the duel with the Sledgehammer. I just, get this feeling like something big is about to happen."

"You come from a family of Awares don't you?" Quin asked and Eva nodded a little.

"Magic users actually, but I don't really have much magical ability of my own," Eva said with a shake of her head. "We've been in the Shadowchasers on and off for generations. I, didn't really want to be part of it, but..."

"But?" Quin asked as she looked at Eva, the older Shadowchaser paused a moment.

"I lost someone close to me, and then, well, there was an incident involving her and Shadowkind," Eva said with a sigh and brushed her hair back a little. "I don't really want to talk about it, you understand I'm sure."

"Yeah, I understand perfectly," Quin said with a nod and a sigh. "That's the downside of being Aware, you know what things are hidden in this crazy world. And we're the one thing that stands between Earth and some of the biggest threats that most people aren't even aware of."

"Yeah, and we have to because if we don't who else will?" Eva asked and Quin nodded a little. "We wouldn't be in this line of work if we weren't willing to try and do what we could to help people. Still, sometimes its hard to be able to do everything that we do..."

"Don't worry Eva," Quin said as she placed a hand on the senior Shadowchaser's shoulder. "Believe me, you're going to be just fine. Judy wouldn't have trusted you and the others with this job if you weren't ready."

"I'm sure you're right," Eva said with a soft smile as she nodded a little. "Still, this job doesn't get any easier some days."

"How did you get into the Shadowchasers?" Quin asked curiously.

"That's kind of a personal story," Eva said with a shake of her head and Quin frowned a little. "I'm sorry, I don't really talking about it. I lost someone close to me, and there was an incident related to Shadowkind related to that, my mentor found out I was aware then and they helped me figure things out and recruited me into the Shadowchasers. I'm just trying to help people and Shadows, you know?"

"That's a pretty good reason," Quin said with a sigh as she laid back on the bed and gave Eva a smile. "Look on the bright side, you only have to worry about the one city. I have to keep an eye on things across this whole universe and the other three dimensions."

"Yikes, how do you manage that?" Eva asked and blinked a little, she had no idea what to even think of that kind of thing or how to imagine it. She knew that Quin had a big job, but she had no idea it was that big.

"Its not as bad as it sounds, I mostly monitor inter-dimensional activity in the event that help is needed," Quin said with a shake of her head. "You've had an influx of that lately actually, mostly from the Fusion Dimension."

"Wait, what?" Eva asked as her eyes went wide at that. "Are you saying that there are people from one of the other Dimensions coming here and we're not aware of them?"

"Pretty much yes," Quin said with a shake of her head. "You have to be careful though, everything is well in hand and with luck the problem will be dealt with."

"I hope you're right," Eva said with a shake of her head. "So, your job is pretty boring then?"

"Oh, it has its moments, but yeah usually we don't have to do much unless there's a direct threat like this," Quin said with a shake of her head. "Hopefully Charlie will be able to get more information on what's going on over at the Force of Nature Duel School."

"Yeah, hopefully," Eva said with a sigh.

 **00000**

"So, your resume is impressive," the headmaster of the school, a man with short black hair and a neatly trimmed beard with a bit of grey in it said as he looked over Charlie's resume. His name was Silas Van Graff, the founder and headmaster of the Force of Nature Duel School. "You worked at the Leo Institute too I see, interesting. Why did you leave?"

"Personal reasons, I had other things that I needed to do," Charlie said with a shake of her head. "I would rather not get into them right now."

"Of course, of course, that's understandable," Silas said as he leaned back and gave her a warm smile. "Perhaps we can find a place for you at my school. Your specialty is Xyz summoning right?"

"That's right," Charlie said as she leaned forward a little. "I learned from Akaba himself and went on to teach the students at the school until I left as I said."

"Right, right, though I find it curious that you have a gap of around a year where you don't seem to have been doing any work," Silas said as he looked at her concerned for a moment. "You're a teacher that any school would love to snatch up, why have you been out of the game for so long?"

"I, have my reasons," Charlie said, she wasn't about to tell Van Graff that she had been working for the Shadowchasers, especially if there was a possibility that he might be connected to the Doomdreamers. "I've been doing some small jobs here and there over the past year, I would like a chance to get back into teaching though. Your Duel School seemed like the most promising option and since you had an opening I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring."

"Well, we have a lot of promising candidates, I will at the very least consider your application very strongly," Silas said as he offered Charlie a hand to shake. "You're going to go far I can tell that much, and whichever school eventually gets you will be very lucky to have you."

"Thank you," Charlie said with a shake of her head as she got to her feet and shook his hand. "Thank you for meeting me Mr. Van Graff, I hope to hear from you soon."

She walked out of the office past a woman with long blue hair dressed in a dress. They exchanged a brief look as Charlie noted the large gemstone around her neck and frowned a little, she made a mental note of that for later as she shut the door behind her.

"Well, she seems like a promising candidate," the woman said as she took a seat on Silas' desk and he rolled his eyes a little at that. "What do you think of her?"

"I don't trust her Sayako," Silas said and narrowed his eyes a little at the door. "She's a Shadowchaser, she thought I couldn't see her badge but I could see it plain as day."

"Why is a Shadowchaser coming to the school? We haven't done anything that should attract their attention," Sayako said with a small frown. "Should I get in contact with Ophelia and see what she has to say?"

"Yes, have her come to my office once classes are over," Silas said as he leaned back in his chair for a moment. "The Shadowchasers won't find anything on us here of course, they know we wouldn't leave anything incriminating out and we don't do anything here that would have magical auras."

"So, then what do you suggest we do?" Sayako asked as she looked at Silas for a long moment as he reached into his desk and took something out.

"We're going to do what we've always done," he said with a smirk. "Prepare and make sure that no one ruins our plans, we will not fail the Dark God again. Tell Raum that we're ready to set things up in our main location here."

"What are you going to do now?" Sayako asked.

"Now, I'm going to see if I can't throw them off the trail a little."

 **00000**

"Did you get anything Steven?" Charlie asked as she walked out of the school and was talking on her communicator to Steven back at the penthouse.

"No, I'm afraid not," Steven said with a shake of his head on the other end. "If that place is a Doomdreamers base then we didn't get anything to indicate it. Not even Van Graff gave off more than a normal aura."

"Of course he didn't, he's probably masking it if he's even behind this," Charlie said with a shake of her head. "Alright, it was worth a try anyway. Lets get word back to Judy and the others, hopefully we're going to be able to narrow down their real base of operations soon."

"Got it," Steven said on the other end. "I'll see you back at home base."

Charlie nodded and shut off her communicator before she looked back at the large building. She had no idea what was really going on in there, but she knew that if the Doomdreamers really were involved, it was going to be nothing but trouble.

And the last thing they needed was another problem on top of everything else that was going on.

 **00000**

 _ **Morgana's Kin Files:**_

 _ **The Starlight Wanderer, a Ship of Death.**_

 _ **?.**_

"So many souls lost, and still the ship sailed on as if indifferent to the suffering that surrounded it. It was as if reality itself rejected the ship as it traveled through the stars, traveling from one universe to the next in search of its goal. Whoever survives this and finds it, may the gods have mercy on your souls. Stay away, there are only the damned here now."

That was the last message of a ship that was up by the _Valiant_ , a Morgana's Kin vessel that marks the first encounter with the _Starlight Wanderer_. When the _Valiant_ reached the spot the message was coming from they found nothing but debris and a signature heading out of the universe and into the void.

The _Starlight Wanderer_ became something of a legend in the multiverse, stories from travelers started to spread of the ship and what befalls those unfortunate enough to cross paths with it. Entire fleets and planets have been lost to madness, as if something from the ship itself was causing it.

The mystery of the ship was not solved until the _Tempest_ , another Kin vessel managed to intercept it in Universe EP-2021 using special technology and magic to protect them from the madness aura, and what they found inside was horrifying.

The crew of the ship and the ship itself had become mutated by some force of powerful chaos. The original species and point of origin was beyond recognition as even when they tried to read the computer files they found it was in some language that could not be translated.

The crew of the _Tempest_ barely escaped with their lives as some force within the ship tried to attack them. What exactly was aboard the ship is not known to this day, but there is some speculation.

As the ship is clearly capable of traveling from Universe to Universe, the speculation has been that it may have wandered into the realm of an Elder Evil that twisted it to their own purpose. The ship was then set out to spread madness throughout the multiverse, one ship or planet at a time.

What the truth behind the ship is, one can only speculate.

 **Story Ideas:** The _Starlight Wanderer_ is something of an enigma in the Multiverse because of its mysterious origins. However there is very few limits to exactly what could be done with it as it could easily appear in orbit over Earth.

The Shadowchasers could enter the ship in a similar way to the crew of the _Tempest_ , and after that the sky is the limit. Likely you'd be looking at a situation like _Alien_ with them trying to survive against horrifying monsters.

What exactly attacked the crew before is likely still aboard, and there is always the chance that it is capable of thought. Whatever it is, it may be a servant of whatever caused the massive changes to the ship.

 **Deck Ideas:** As said before this would work better for a survival horror style story. However it is possible that some of the crew could be capable of dueling if they know how, so the sky is the limit.

 **00000**

 _ **Alright, that's chapter 5 for all of you, our heroes are up to date and we've gotten our first look at some of our villains.**_

 _ **What's going to happen next? What is Silas' plan to distract the Shadowchasers? Well that starts next time as Eva tries to tell Myra how she feels, but gets distracted by a threat she didn't expect to run into. I'll see you next time in, "Fusion Tag."**_

 _ **Also, still looking for Morgana's Kin Files.**_


	6. Fusion Tag

_Okay, this is a tag team duel so we gotta go over some of the rules._

 _Given the setting and time period we'll be following the established rules of Tag Duels/Battle Royale duels in Arc-V. So, all duelists have their own life points and fields and both sides share a graveyard._

 _Also a note, while Eva does use a Shiranui deck and there are some new cards have recently been released for them. Yes, her deck will include most of them, with the exception of the new Link monster because I planned to not use Link monsters going into this, and I have no intention of changing my mind._

 _Now that that's out of the way, lets get started._

 _Dislcaimer: I only own the characters I created._

 **00000**

 **0000000000**

 **CHAPTER 6:**

 **FUSION TAG**

 **0000000000**

 **00000**

 _ **Tell me, do you play video games?**_

 _ **I admit, I've always had kind of a weakness for video games since I was growing up. I've played some of the classics like Mario all the way up to the more, surprising and at times dark games like Fallout or Metal Gear Solid (ignoring Metal Gear Survive of course).**_

 _ **Yeah, I'm kind of a nerd, but I enjoy the games for my own reasons and I've always found them exciting. Mind you, today wasn't a day that I actually thought I'd do anything related to video games.**_

 _ **But apparently the Doomdreamers had other things in mind for me. Thankfully though, I don't have to go it alone.**_

 **00000**

"Did the Shadowchasers give you any trouble?" A woman with long dark blue hair and dressed in a low cut dress asked as Silas walked back into his office.

"Oh you know, just a routine search," Silas said with a shake of his head. "They didn't find anything of course. I don't like it though Ophelia, if they're onto us then we have a problem, a big problem."

Ophelia Devon nodded a little, officially she was one of the top teachers at the Force of Nature Duel School. However like Silas, beneath that disguise was one of the highest ranking members of the Doomdreamers in the Standard Dimension.

"They'll never be able to track us down here, don't worry," Ophelia said with a smirk. "They don't have probable cause for more than a search warrant, is Raum in the secure location?"

"Yes, the Triad confirmed it," Silas said with a nod as he shook his head and looked at some files on his desk. "We need to deal with the Shadowchasers if our plans are to succeed however."

"Indeed," Ophelia said and looked thoughtful for a moment. "We could use, that one spell that you learned recently. You know, the one that lets you summon monster spirits."

Silas looked thoughtful for a moment as he picked up a deck of cards. He didn't have a lot of monsters that would be terrifying enough to deal with the Shadowchasers. He shook his head and got up and went over to a shelf and picked up a binder.

"I've been experimenting with a variation of it," he said as he flipped through the binder for a moment. "Its just a matter of finding the right thing to use."

"Hmm, how about that one?" Ophelia suggested as she pointed at one of the disks inside.

"No, there's only one character worth summoning from that trilogy, and its been done before," Silas said with a shake of his head before he found one disk. "Ah, perfect, lets see who to summon from this one..."

He set the disk out and closed his eyes as he started chanting as magical energy surrounded the disk. The energy started to coalesce into two figures, one was small with glowing yellow eyes and the other was tall and hulking.

The figures vanished as the energy flew off into the city.

"Was that what I think it was?" Ophelia asked as she looked at Silas.

"Yes, the Shadowchasers aren't going to have an easy time with this one," Silas said with a smirk as he crossed his arms and pulled up a screen. "Lets see where this goes, shall we?"

Ophelia nodded as the two Doomdreamers watched it together.

 **00000**

Eva took a deep breath as she stepped into a restaurant in the City and took a seat at a table. She had invited Myra to meet up with her for dinner, she was still a bit uneasy after everything that had happened in Shadowchasers HQ and Charlie's talk with Silas Van Graff.

She took out the three cards she had brought with her. They had been from a pack that she had gotten when they had first learned about different types of summoning from Charlie, but they hadn't been her kind of thing.

Then when Myra had gotten into Duel Monsters she had started using the strategy they would work for. Eva had been tempted to give them to her this whole time, but she hadn't worked up the courage until she had talked to Steven.

"Hey Eva," Myra said with a smile as she took a seat across from the Shadowchaser. "Sorry if I'm a little late, I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"No, no, I just got here," Eva said with a smile as she looked at the elf. "I'm just thinking about a lot of things, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Myra said with a smile.

"Here, uh, I got these cards awhile back and I figured you could use them better than me," Eva said as she offered the three cards to Myra along with another card. "They could work really well for your deck."

Myra looked at the cards curiously for a moment. She smiled and leaned over and hugged Eva gently which made the woman blush a little. "Thanks Eva, this means a lot."

"I'm glad," Eva said with a smile. "Listen, Myra I was thinking that maybe..."

She stopped in mid-sentence as she looked out the window behind her and saw a girl. That wasn't anything unusual, but the girl was dressed in what looked like a dress that came from the 50s with long black hair tied into a ponytail.

But what drew her attention was the girl's eyes. They were glowing yellow without any pupils visible. She looked at Myra for a moment before getting up.

"I'm sorry Myra, I have to check something..." She said and got up as she headed over to the front door with a confused Myra close behind.

"Eva, what's going on?" Myra asked.

"I don't know," Eva said as she checked her deck box and looked at Myra. "Its probably just my imagination, but I'd like to make sure that its not something Shadow related."

Myra looked worried as Quin secured her duel disk for a moment before they made it out of the restaurant. The little girl was humming and playing with a strange stuffed creature before she looked back at the two with her yellow eyes once more.

"Okay, I may not know a lot about humans, but I don't think that's normal," Myra commented as she looked back at Eva who looked more worried than anything else. "What's wrong Eva?"

"Mr. Bubbles, where are you?" The little girl called out before Eva could answer. "Where are the Angels?"

"She looks lost," Myra commented as she walked towards the girl only to have her hand be taken Eva. "What's going on? Its just a little girl."

"That's no little girl... not anymore at least," Eva commented. "That's a Little Sister."

Myra was about to ask what she meant when there was a sound of loud metal footfalls coming close. They looked up to see a towering figure dressed in a metal suit with a drill on one arm and a visor that didn't show anything behind it.

Eva noticed that on his hand was a symbol of the Greek Letter Delta.

"Okay, that's not good," Eva said as she looked at Myra. "But, that doesn't make a lot of sense either. They're from the game BioShock 2, Subject Delta and Elanor Lamb."

"What are they doing here?"

"I don't know..." Eva admitted as she looked at the two. "Hey, Elanor right? What are the two of you doing here?"

"We're looking for Angels, have you seen any?" Elanor asked with a creepily sweet smile as she looked up at them.

"Angels?" Myra whispered to Eva.

"Dead bodies in Rapture, she drains... well its a long story really, I'll tell you later," Eva said with a shake of her head. "Just don't try and hurt her. But I'm starting to get the idea here, I think they're summons."

"So what do we do?" Myra asked.

"Follow my lead," Eva said with a nod and looked at Elanor again. "Maybe we can help you, what can..."

"Angel, Angel there!" Elanor said and pointed at Eva and she blinked. "But you seem to be awake, maybe we can play a game?"

"A game, alright, lets play a game," Eva said as she raised her duel disk. "Do you want to play Duel Monsters?"

"Yes, yes, duel monsters is fun!" Elanor said and smiled as she raised her arm and a duel disk appeared on it along with a deck. "Mr. Bubbles, join us, please?"

Subject Delta didn't say anything and instead let out a noise as he raised his arm and a duel disk appeared on it.

"Two on one isn't fair," Eva said with a groan as she raised her duel disk and slid her deck into it.

"Don't worry, I'll duel too," Myra said as she took a duel disk out and gave Eva a smile. "Are you ready for this?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," Eva said as they activated their duel disks.

 _"Battle Royale Mode activated,"_ the computerized voice said.

 **(Eva/Myra: 8000/8000) - (Elanor/Subject Delta: 8000/8000)**

"I'll go first," Elanor said as she looked her hand over for a moment and took two cards and slid them into her disk. "I'll set one card face down and play Toy Vendor."

A tall toy vending machine appeared behind her with hands and a long ramp that looked almost like a tongue.

"I'll now discard one card..." she said and slid a card into her disk before she picked up the top card from her deck. "And reveal my next card, if its a Fluffal I can special summon another monster from my hand."

Eva frowned when she showed the card to be a monster called Fluffal Leo. Then a strange mechanical monster with chains on it appeared and glared at them with red eyes (1200/1800).

"Yay, I get to summon my Edge Imp Chain!" She said happily before she took the card she had drawn and set it on her disk. "But he looks lonely so I'll summon my Fluffal Leo too!"

Eva blinked a little as she saw what the monster was. It looked like a lion stuffed animal as it let out a cute roar.

"And I'll end my turn there," Elanor finished with a smile.

"Then its my turn," Eva said as she drew her next card and looked over at Myra and gave her a nod as she took one card from her hand and slid it into her disk. "I activate Foolish Burial, so I can send one monster from my deck to the graveyard."

She took her deck out and picked a monster before sliding it into her graveyard. She then looked at the other cards in her hand and picked one out as she set it on the hard light duel disk.

"I summon my Zombie Master in attack mode," she continued and a smiling man with dark hair and dressed in tattered clothes with a cape appeared as magical energy crackled from his hands (1800/0).

"Zombies?" Elanor asked and looked at the monster strangely.

"Zombie Master is a Necromancer, not the strongest one around but he has quite a few tricks up his sleave," Eva said as she took another card and slit it into her disk. "I'll set this card face down and end my turn there."

"You're doing great Eva," Myra said with a smile as she gave her friend a nod.

Delta drew his next card and looked at it before he sld it into his disk and the city around them changed. The buildings became towers of blocks and other toys appeared around them.

"Okay, that's a new one," Myra said as she looked at the strange new landscape around them. "What's this?"

"I have no idea," Eva said, she had to admit she didn't know a lot about Fluffals, but she had a bad feeling about this.

"This is Fluffal Toy Box," Elanor said with a smile. "Once per turn, we can use it to Fusion Summon using each other's monsters."

"Great," Myra said as she looked at Eva. "Any idea how they can use Fusion summoning?"

"They're summons themselves, its probably tied into the spell that brought them here," Eva said with a shake of her head as Delta placed a new card on his duel disk.

A new monster appeared, it looked like a stuffed sheep with a pink face and orange-golden fur with two wings on its back (400/800). It let out a baa as Subject Delta nodded to the sheep and then at Edge Imp Chain. The two monsters flew into a vortex as Subject Delta nodded and brought his armored hands together.

The monster that emerged was another sheep, but it was much more horrifying looking than its predecessor. It had chains covering its body and a hook on one leg and a peg leg on the other. Coming out of its back was two attachments with golden saws attached to it (2000/2000).

"Nothing we can't handle," Eva said with a gulp, though she had to admit she was a little nervous still. "Right?" 

Myra nodded as she looked at her hand and back at the strange new monster. "Yeah, we'll do fine," she said.

Delta grunted and nodded at Myra.

"Then its my draw," Myra said as she drew her next card and looked at it for a moment. She hadn't used this deck in any sort of serious duels, she just hoped she could help Eva with what was going on. "I'll start with my spell card Amazoness Call, so I can add one of my Amazoness monsters to my hand."

"Uh-oh," Elanor said as Myra took a card out of her deck and smiled.

"You've got this Myra," Eva said and gave the elf woman a thumbs up. "Lets show these two the true force of nature."

"That's right, now by revealing my Amazoness Queen, I can special summon Amazoness Spy to the field," Myra continued and a dark skinned woman with spiked black hair and carrying a knife appeared (800/1200). "And I'll add my Amazoness Village field spell!"

The city around them on their side of the field changed into an old primitive village. Amazoness Spy stood up for a moment and pointed its knife forward as its attack rose to 1000.

"Silly, its far too small to hurt our Sheep," Elanor said and smiled innocently as she swayed from side to side. "Silly, you'll have to try harder."

"Since that was a special summon, I can sacrifice my Spy to summon Amazoness Queen," Myra said with a smile as the spy vanished and was replaced by a tall woman with blue hair and an eyepatch with an armored bikini and carrying a large sword (2400/1800 + 200). "How's that for trying harder?"

"Meanie, I didn't mean that!" Elanor said and Myra just laughed.

 _Well, at least they don't seem like much of a threat,_ Eva thought as she looked at the two of them as Myra slid a card into her disk and it appeared in front of her. _We just have to be careful with what we do, I hope Delta won't take direct attacks on Elanor as a threat to her._

"Now Amazoness Queen, take out that Sheep with your Blade of Hippolyta!" Myra said as the queen ran forward and slashed through Frightfur Sheep, leaving it in two halves. "Yeah, how do you like that?"

Delta just picked the card up and slid it into his disk. Then his graveyard slot started to glow brightly before the sheep burst back into view with dark energy surrounding it as its attack went up to 2800.

"Crap," Myra said and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry Eva, I didn't know they could do that..."

"Its okay, it happens to the best of us," Eva said and gave the elf a thumbs up. "We'll figure it out, I promise."

"Right, I'll end my turn there, lets see what you have now Elanor," Myra said.

 **(Ev/M: 8000/8000) - (El/D: 8000/7400)**

"Yippee, its my turn!" Elanor said as she drew her next card and smiled. "I summon my Fluffal Octopus in attack mode!"

A new stuffed animal appeared. It looked like a pink spotted octopus that wiggled its tentacles a little as it appeared (800/800).

"And thanks to that, I get to add my Edge Imp Chain back to my hand," the Little Sister said as she took a card out of her disk and showed it.

 _Great, she's probably got Polymerization or something in her hand and plans to summon something bigger,_ Eva thought as she looked at the monsters. _Well, other than these things looking like rejects from Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, I'm starting to get the idea. They're corruptions of childhood innocence, much like the Little Sisters were as created in Rapture._

"This world values children, not childhood," she muttered and Myra looked at her strangely. "Its something from BioShock, I'll explain later."

"Now, I think I'll play, Polymerization," Elanor said as the Octopus and the strange imp flew into a vortex behind her. "Blades of steel and monster of the deep, when the two come together your heart will skip a beat! I fusion summon, a deep sea dweller's worst nightmare, Frightfur Kraken!"

A new demented looking stuffed animal appeared. It was purple with red stripes and had several tentacles that each ended in blades. The front part of it opened up and two red eyes glared out at Eva and Myra (2200/3000).

"Okay, that's definitely scary, but its not going to take out my Queen, she can't be destroyed by battle along with any other Amazoness cards I have," Myra said with a gulp, even she had to admit she was a bit creeped out by this thing.

"Nuh-uh, I can use my Kraken's effect and send her to the graveyard," Elanor said and giggled lightly as the Kraken slashed through the Queen and she shattered.

 _Crap, that means I can't use my field spell since it didn't destroy her,_ Myra thought as she backed away a little. "Okay, that was a good move."

"Yep, now Kraken take out that icky Zombie Master with Blades of the Deep!" Elanor said as the Kraken swung its tentacles around and slashed through the Zombie Master. "And I'll attack you directly with Leo, attack her directly big kitty!"

Fluffal Leo ran forward and slashed at Myra with its forepaws as its attack rose to 2100. It let out a cute roar and returned to her side of the field.

"And that's all from me, lets see what you've got Ms. Angel," Elanor said with a big smile.

 **(Ev/M: 7600/5900) - (El/D: 8000/7400)**

 _Come on deck, don't let me down,_ Eva thought as she drew her next card and flinched a little, it wasn't going to help that much without some support.

"Come on, I'm bored, are you going to do something or not?" Elanor asked.

"I'll simply set this monster in defense mode and end my turn," Eva said as she picked another card and it appeared face down in front of her. "Its your move now big guy."

Delta drew his next card and added it to his hand before shaking his head and a series of cards appeared in front of him. He pointed at one and Fluffal Octopus slid out of Elanor's graveyard.

"To keep our Toy Box, we have to put this card on the bottom of our my deck," Elanor said with a giggle as she slid the card into her deck.

 _Right, of course a card that lets them fuse using each other's monsters has a cost like that, but we'll still manage,_ Eva thought as she looked her hand over. _Lets just hope that they can't fusion summon again right now._

Delta looked his hand over and shook his armored head before he pointed at Frightfur Sheep and then at the face down monster. The sheep's saws started up and it moved forward and slashed through a turtle with a pyramid on its back.

"Thanks, that was my Pyramid Turtle," Eva said as she took a card from her deck and a second turtle appeared in front of her (1200/1400). "Now I can summon any zombie with less than 2000 defense to the field like a second turtle."

Delta just shrugged and nodded at Myra.

 _Dang this guy's got a good poker face,_ Myra thought as she looked at her deck, she just hoped that she'd get something good now. She drew her next card and looked at the other cards in her hand and smiled. _Perfect._

"Did you get something good?" Eva asked as she looked at the elf and Elanor looked up nervously.

"That's right, but first I'll summon my Amazoness Trainee!" Myra said and a younger girl with grey hair and dressed in blue striped animal skins appeared wielding a chain (1500/1300 + 200). "And I'll add my Amazoness Fighting Spirit, which will give my Amazoness monsters an additional 1000 attack points when they attack a stronger monster."

"That's still not enough to destroy Mr. Bubbles' sheep friend," Elanor pointed out.

"I'll get to that in a moment, I banish Amazoness Call from my graveyard, which lets my Trainee attack all of your monsters," Myra added as the trainee smiled and started to glow brightly. "Now Amazoness Trainee, take out the Frightfur Kraken first with Chain Rend!"

The Trainee nodded and jumped up and wrapped her chain around the monster and pulled hard and it shattered.

"And that activates both her effects, which gives her 200 attack points and sends your monster back to your extra deck," Myra said with a smile as Elanor's glowing eyes went wide at that as the Trainee's attack rose to 1900.

"No fair," Elanor said as Delta let out a noise.

"I didn't make the cards, and you know what that means, Trainee attack Frightfur Sheep this time!" Myra continued as the trainee wrapped her chain around the sheep this time and shattered it as her attack rose to 2100. "And now for Leo!"

The Trainee finally finished off the large lion as it shattered and Myra let out a sigh of relief as the Trainee's attack rose to 2300. That had gotten them closer to finishing the duel at least and destroyed their two trickier monsters.

"That was great Myra," Eva said and gave her a thumbs up. "Keep it up and we'll have this duel in the bag."

"I'll end my turn there, lets see what you can do now Elanor," Myra finished.

 **(Ev/M: 7600/5900) - (El/D: 7300/7100)**

"My turn," Elanor said excitedly as she drew her next card and nodded back to the large toy dispenser behind her. "I'll discard this card and lets test my luck."

She slid the card she had just drawn into the slot in her disk and drew her next card and smiled as she showed it. A cute cream colored puppy with brown splotches and two wings appeared in front of her crouching in defense mode (1700/1000).

"Yay, my Fluffal Doggy," Elanor said and smiled. "No dog-eaters are going to get this one either."

"Dog eaters?" Myra asked and blinked a little confused.

"Its something her mom told her about," Eva said. "Its complicated, don't worry about it right now. Go on Elanor, lets see what else you've got."

"Well, thanks to the effect of my Doggy, I can add one more Fluffal monster to my hand," Elanor said as she took a card out of her deck and smiled a little. "I'll end my turn there."

"My draw then," Eva said as she drew her next card and flinched a little, since her team could only have one field active at a time it wasn't going to help. But she had other cards she could use instead, so she picked another one. "I'll summon Gozuki!"

A towering muscular demon with a bull's head and a necklace appeared swinging a hammer (1700/800).

"And I'll use his effect, which lets me take a Zombie from my deck and send it to the graveyard," Eva continued as she took a card out of her deck and slide it into her graveyard slot. "Now I'll switch Pyramid Turtle to attack mode and have him take out your Fluffal Dog Pyramid Shell Smash!"

The turtle brought itself into the pyramid and spun around like a top before impacting the dog and it shattered.

"Go trap card, Fluffal Crane so I get my doggy back!" Elanor countered as the card re-appeared in her hand.

"Now Gozuki..." Eva started to say as she pointed at Elanor and paused a moment. She knew what would happen if a Little Sister was attacked with her Big Daddy nearby, and if he took this as an assault on her that would be very bad. At the same time though, they needed to deal damage to her, she sighed and shook her head. "Gozuki, attack Elanor directly but go lightly!"

Gozuki looked at her confused for a moment before moving forward and sort of, flicking the little girl in the forehead before returning to his spot.

"Ouchies," Elanor said as she rubbed her forehead, but Delta didn't seem to react.

"Really?" Myra asked as she looked over at Eva confused for a moment. "I'm guessing this is about what you were saying before."

"Better safe than sorry," Eva said with a shake of her head. This was weird for her, she had never even been able to bring herself to get the evil endings for the first two BioShock games. "I'll end my turn there."

 **(Ev/M: 7600/5900) - (El/D: 5600/7100)**

Delta drew another card from his gauntlet and then slid a card out of his graveyard and placed it on the bottom of his deck. He looked his hand over for a moment before selecting a card and sliding it into his disk.

"Frightfur Patchwork, okay, that doesn't look good," Eva said as she read the card's text and two cards slid out of Delta's deck. "I think we better brace ourselves for something nasty."

"That's right, now Mr. Bubbles can Fusion summon again," Elanor said with a smile as Delta slid a card into his disk and the fusion vortex appeared behind him as he discarded two monsters.

A pink winged bear appeared on one side and a creature that looked like a bundle of scisors with red evil eyes appeared on the other. They flew into the vortex and the two women took a step back when they saw what was facing them.

It looked like a stuffed pink bear at first glance, but its neck was open to reveal teeth and a glowing pair of eyes. It also had a large pair of scisors coming out of its torso as it let out a creepy laugh (2200/1800).

"Okay, I admit it, I was not ready for that," Eva said with a gulp.

"Uh, well that's very creepy," Myra said with a shake of her head. "But its too weak to destroy my Trainee."

Delta just shrugged and slid a card into his disk and a card appeared in front of him. Then he pointed at the evil looking bear and then at Pyramid Turtle and it charged forward and slashed through the turtle with its claw.

"Yeah, well I get my turtle's effect now," Eva said as she took a card out of her deck and a green skeletal monster with a blue shirt and a bulbous white zombie with wild hair appeared in front of her (1300/0). "So I get my Uni-Zombie."

Delta just shrugged as suddenly a translucent Pyramid Turtle appeared and flew into the bear monster as its attack rose to 3200.

"Okay, I wasn't expecting that," Eva said.

"Yep, when Frightfur Bear destroys a monster he can be equipped with it," Elanor said with a smile. "Good job Mr. Bubbles.

"Talk about your bad news bears," Eva said with a groan, she was going to have to think of something fast.

Delta nodded to Myra and crossed his arms signaling the end of his turn.

 **(Ev/M: 6600/5900) - (El/D: 5600/7100)**

"Its my turn!" Myra said as she drew her next card and looked at her hand for a moment. "I'll set this card face down and summon my Amazoness Fighter in attack mode!"

A muscular woman not carrying a weapon and dressed in a green bikini and black spiked hair appeared in front of her (1500/1300 + 200).

"And thanks to my spell cards, my Trainee can take out that big bad bear of yours," Myra said with a grin as the Trainee held her chain out and smirked. "Trainee, take out that bear with your Chain Rend!"

The Amazoness grinned and ran forward swinging here chain around with her attack rising to 3300. Myra's smile was quickly wiped from her face when Delta's face down card flipped up.

"No, not Twin Twisters!" She said as Delta slid a card into his graveyard and two tornadoes flew out and blew away Amazoness Fighting Spirit and the village.

The bear slashed through the trainee as she let out a scream. Then she was drawn into the bear's maw as it cackled again and its attack rose to 4200.

"Dang it..." Myra said and cursed under her breath in elvish.

"Its okay Myra, its not over yet," Eva said and gave her friend a reassuring smile. "We've still got this, I'm sure."

"I end my turn," Myra said with a sigh as she looked at her opponents, she just hoped that she could do this.

 **(Ev/M: 6600/4800) - (El/D: 5600/7100)**

"My turn now!" Elanor said as she drew her next card and smiled at it before taking another card and slid it into her graveyard. "I'm going to activate my Toy Vendor again."

 _She can't possibly get lucky with that card every time,_ Eva thought as the vending machine's arm was pulled and the little girl drew her next card.

"Darn it," she said and showed it as another Edge Imp card that looked like a saw. "Since this isn't a Fluffal monster it has to go to the graveyard."

"Well, that was lucky," Myra said as Elanor slid the card into her graveyard. "That could've gone a lot worse."

"She doesn't look worried though," Eva said as she looked at the little girl, something about this felt off to her. "She must have something planned."

"Lets see here, I play the spell card Frightfur Fusion!" Elanor said with a smile as a swirling vortex appeared behind her.

 _Crap, archetype specific fusions are never good,_ Eva thought as Elanor reached into her graveyard and took out two cards.

"So by banishing my Fluffal Leo and the Edge Imp Saw I just discarded, I can summon a new monster," Elanor said as the lion and a circular saw with glaring eyes appeared behind her. "Sharpened steel and ruler of the jungle! When the two come together, prepare to rumble! I fusion summon, Frightfur Leo!"

The new monster that appeared looked like a lion in basic shape. However it had saws coming out of its face and body and long claws on either paw (2400/2000).

"Okay, that's definitely not good, but notihng we can't handle," Eva said as she looked at the demented looking lion. "Come on, we can handle this, I hope."

"Now I get to use my big kitty's special ability," Elanor continued as she pointed at Gozuki. "Frightfur Leo can destroy one of your monsters and deal damage to your life points equal to its attack, so bye-bye!"

The lion's saws buzzed and he ran forward slashing through Gozuki and taking a swipe at Eva. The Shadowchaser flinched but stood her ground.

"And since that was his effect he can now attack and take out your Uni-Zombie, attack with Saw Claw!"

The lion's claws glistened as he slashed at the spectral monster only to be blocked by a vortex.

"Sorry, that was my negate attack," Myra said with a grin. "I'm not going to let you take out her monster that easily."

"Thanks Myra," Eva said with a smile as she gave the elf a nod.

"Hey, I've got your back if you've got mine," Myra said. "We're a team, and lets beat these guys as one."

"Darn it, no fair!" Elanor said. "Fine, I end my turn."

 **(Ev/M: 4900/4800) - (El/D: 5600/7100)**

"Alright, time to take this duel back in our favor!" Eva said as she drew her next card. "Starting with this, I summon my Shiranui Smith!"

An older man with medium length greying hair and a mustache appeared. He raised a hammer that he slammed down on an anvil (1000/0).

"Yeah, that'll definitely help," Myra said with a grin.

"Now I'll activate Uni-Zombie's effect, by discarding this card from my hand..." Eva continued as she discarded one card and Uni-Zombie started glowing. "And that raises their level from 3 to 4. Which means only one thing, I can tune my two monsters together."

The two monsters flew up into the sky as stars flew into the Smith. _"Lord of the undead, master of the secret flames, appear before us in this game!"_

 **(4* + 4* = 8*)**

"I synchro summon, Shiranui Shogunsaga!" Eva continued as the tall masked Samurai with long hair appeared in front of her (3000/0). "And since I just discarded my Shiranui Spiritmaster, I can banish it to give it 1500 more attack points."

The spectral image of the zombie monster appeared and flew into Shogunsaga as its attack rose to 4500. Then the spirit flew through it and drew a blade that it stabbed deep into Frightfur Bear which shattered.

"Hey, no fair!" Elanor protested.

"Oh its completely fair, when Spiritmaster is banished I can destroy one monster, and thanks to my Smith I get a Shiranui card" Eva said with a smirk as she added a card to her hand and slid it into the disk before she took two cards out of her graveyard. "And to add to your troubles, I banish the Shiranui Spectralsword and Pyramid Turtle in my graveyard to Synchro summon again!"

The two monsters appeared in spectral forms and flew up into the sky.

 _"Force from beyond the grave, spirits of the unknown flame, come together to create a new force to bear on our foes!"_ Eva chanted as the two monsters flew up into the sky.

 **(2* + 4* = 6*)**

"I synchro summon, Shiranui Samuraisaga!" Eva said as the red robed Samurai appeared and drew his sword as he looked over at Shogunsaga and gave him a nod (2500/0). "Now, lets deal with that big cat. Shogunsaga, attack with Slash of the Sacred Flame!"

The Shogun ran forward and swung his sword at the fiendish stuffed animal and it shattered as Eva cried out.

"Now Samuraisaga, attack Delta directly!" Eva continued as the Samurai nodded and ran forward and slashed at the armored man who grunted.

"Now I'll activate my Shiranui Style Samsara, so I return these two cards to my deck..." Eva said as she took the two cards out of her pocket and shuffled them into her deck. "I can draw one more card."

She drew a card and looked at it for a moment before nodding.

"I'll end my turn there," she finished.

 **(Ev/M: 4900/4800) - (El/D: 3000/4600)**

Delta silently drew his next card and then took a card out of his graveyard and placed it at the bottom of his deck. He looked at his hand again for a moment and picked a card before placing it on his disk.

A large pale winged creature with a single eye and long fangs appeared but it wasn't in front of him, instead it was above him and behind him.

"Okay, that's not good," Eva said as she realized just what was going on. "He just played a Pendulum Monster."

"But, how? They're still new to the game," Myra questioned. "I don't think I've even heard of anyone other than Yuya Sakaki using them."

"Same way they know how to use Fusions," Eva said. "They're summons, they aren't as restricted by stuff like that. I don't like this, but we have to be ready for just about any thing."

"Right," Myra said with a sigh as she gave Eva a nod. "But they only seem to have one, that's a good sign."

Delta nodded as he took a card from his hand and set it on his disk before he gave Myra a nod. He crossed his arms and stood there stoically as he waited for her to make her next move.

"My draw then," Myra said as she drew her next card and looked at it surprised for a moment. It was one of the cards that Eva had given her, but she didn't have everything she needed to use it yet. "Alright, lets take care of that face down monster. I'll go straight into my battle phase and have my Fighter destroy your face down monster!"

Fighter nodded as she let out a cry. She ran forward and slammed her fist down at the face down monster that was revealed to be a stuffed rabbit before it shattered.

"Aww, you killed our bunny," Elanor said with a pout.

"And its about to get worse," Myra said as her trap card flipped up. "By activating the trap Queen's Pawn I can special summon another Amazoness from my deck to the field. So I'll bring out my Amazoness Sage!"

A dark skinned woman with blue hair in a beehive appeared. She was dressed like a sage or shaman and was leaning on a staff as she gave the opponents a scowl (1400/700).

"And now I can attack Delta directly with Nature's Fury!" Myra continued as the woman ran forward and swung her staff around, hitting Delta first in the head and then hit him in the stomach. "And it gets better, well for me at least."

"Better?" Elanor asked, she was suddenly a little worried as the sage began to chant.

"Since she attacked and is still on the field, I get to destroy one of your spell or trap cards," Myra said and pointed at the toybox structures behind the two. "Like your field spell!"

The toybox around them shattered into tiny pieces as Delta and Elanor covered their faces. Myra smirked a little as she looked back at her hand and nodded a little.

She'd use this card in due time, but for now she had to be ready. "I'll end my turn there," she finally said.

 **(Ev/M: 4900/4800) - (El/D: 3000/3200)**

"Its my turn you dog eaters," Elanor said as she drew her next card. "Yay, I'll start out by summoning my Fluffal Patchwork!"

A new monster appeared. It looked vaguely like a winged bear but it was dark brown and looked like it had been patched together with several pieces of cloth (0/0).

"That's not good," Eva said. "Having 0 attack and defense is almost never good."

"Yep, and this one can be used as a Fusion Substitute for any of my monsters," Elanor said as she slid a card into her disk. "So I'll activate Frightfur Fusion and banish Patchwork along with the Frightfur Bear and Kraken in my graveyard."

The three monsters appeared and flew into the vortex as Elanor began to chant.

"Fury of the bear, monster of the depths, and makeshift friends! When the three come together, victory is attained! I Fusion summon! Come on out my mighty mashup, Frightfur Chimera!"

The monster that appeared from the vortex was massive. Part of its body was pink and looked like Fluffal Bear, but the rest of it had two long necks with heads on the side and two large sets of legs (2800/2000).

"Now my Chimera, lets take out that dreadful Samumrai with Three Headed Strike!" Elanor said as the monsterous creature swung at the Samurai and she screamed as she shattered. "And that's not all, your Samurai now comes under my control and my Chimera gains 300 attack points."

Samuraisaga appeared next to the Chimera, though he didn't look like herself. She looked almost rotting, like he had been patched up (1250/0). The Chimera glowed with energy as its attack rose to 3100.

"And, well that's about all I can do," Elanor said with a smile. "But your Shogun is next, there isn't much you can do now."

 **(Ev/M: 4300/4800) - (El/D: 3000/3200)**

 _Come on deck, don't let me down,_ Eva thought as she drew her next card and flinched a little. _Okay, not what I was hoping for, but I'll at least set it._

"Well, did you get anything?" Elanor asked.

"I'll set this monster in defense mode and I'll destroy my Samuraisaga with Shogunsaga, Burning Sword!" Eva said as the undead shogun drew his sword and slashed through the Samurai and it shattered as Chimera's attack returned to 2800. "I'll end my turn there."

Delta grunted as he drew his next card and looked at it. He picked out another card and put it into his disk, a needle and thread appeared as it began sewing in mid-air. Then Frightfur Kraken appeared in front of him and started to glow while the monster behind him did the same (2200/3000 + 300).

"Okay, that's not good," Myra said.

"You're lucky," Elanor said with a smile. "Mr. Bubbles' spell card keeps Kraken from using its effect."

"That's good, at least we don't have to worry about that," Eva said.

Delta took another card from his hand and slid it into his disk and the infamous Pot of Greed appeared in front of him as spellbooks flew out of it.

"Spellbooks Inside the Pot, figures," Myra said as everyone drew three cards. "Well at least it helps us too."

"Yeah, but who knows what he's got planned now," Eva said with a frown as Delta took a look at his cards.

He took two cards and slid them into his disk. One appeared face down in front of him and then a vortex appeared behind him. He took two cards out of his graveyard and a pair of wings and a demonic looking chain appeared behind him and flew into the vortex.

The monster that appeared from the vortex looked vaguely demonic. It had a red body with black wings and hat, it had a golden symbol on its chest and it opened its mouth to reveal sharp teeth as it glowed again (3000/2200 + 300).

"Frightfur Daredevil, isn't he cool?" Elanor asked with a smile.

"Yeah, cool," Eva said as she backed away a little, this was not good.

Delta pointed at Daredevil and then at Shiranui Shogunsaga. The monster ran forward and bit down hard on the zombie Shogun which let out a ghastly moan as it shattered. The devil's tail swung around it hit Eva and she let out a scream as her life points fell further.

Before she could say anything, Delta pointed at Kraken and then at Amazoness Sage. The Kraken swung its tentacles around and slashed through the sage who screamed loudly and shattered.

Delta took the last card out of his hand and set it on his disk as the word "PENDULUM" appeared on it. A stuffed animal that looked like a cherub appeared above him and he gave Myra a nod.

 **(Ev/M: 3000/3700) - (El/D: 3000/3200)**

 _Okay, I need the right card now,_ Myra thought as she drew the next card from her deck and looked at it with a smile. _Perfect, this'll help._

"What's got you smiling?" Elanor asked.

"This, I play the spell card Reinforcement of the Army, so I can add one level 4 or lower Warrior to my hand," Eva said as she took her deck out and picked a card. "And now, I'll summon The Unfriendly Amazon!"

A tall woman with black hair tied into a braid and dressed in dark armor with spiked shoulderpads appeared. She drew a dark looking sword and smirked wickedly as she looked at Elanor and Delta (2000/1000).

"What? Why would you use that card?" Elanor asked. "Doesn't it have some sort of cost to use?"

"Yes, normally," Myra said as she shuffled her hand for a moment before taking another card. "The Unfriendly Amazon was once part of the Amazoness Tribe, she was the weakest member of the Tribe, more of a scholar than anything else really. She struck a deal with a dark power and gained access to the Savage Blade, which turned her into a berzerker monster that cared not for the rules of engagement. When she finally crossed the line, she killed two of her own sisters, and was exiled for her crimes."

She took a card out of her hand and a spell card appeared in front of her called Double Summon. A glow around the field started as she selected another card.

"But that's not where her story ended," Myra continued. "As she traveled the land she came across a town that had been attacked by a force of demons. She attacked the demons with her rage, cutting each of them down, they barely could fight back. When she looked around, she found a small girl hiding, she was the sole survivor of the attack on the village. She didn't know why, but when she saw the child her rage abated, and she felt sorry for her."

She took a card from her hand set it on the disk. A new monster appeared, this one was a young girl dressed in animal skins. She was holding a weaving loom as she looked like she was working on clothing (500/500).

"The Unfriendly Amazon brought the child back to her home village," Myra continued with a soft smile. "The child was welcomed into the Tribe by her new sisters. The Unfriendly Amazon prepared to leave the village before she was approached by the Amazoness Queen. She had seen what the woman had become, and offered her a new place in the Tribe. She had lost the rage that she had, and now became a protector of the tribe."

She took a card and slid it into her disk with an image of a crying Unfriendly Amazon being held by the Amazoness Weaver as she was surrounded by her sisters.

"I play the spell card, Redemption of the Unfriendly Amazon," she said with a smile as she looked at Eva who gave her a nod. "Now I get to summon her stronger form, welcome to the field Amazoness Protector!"

The two monsters vanished as a light shone around her. The monster that descended looked like the Unfriendly Amazon, only she was dressed in armor that shone in the light. She held a sword in one hand and a makeshift shield in the other hand. Her hair was no longer in a braid, instead it was long and flowing as she raised her sword upright (2400/2100).

"You did it Myra!" Eva said with a smile as she gave the elf a nod. "Keep going, show them the true power of the Amazons!"

"I will," Myra said as she took a card from her hand and slid it into her disk. "I'll set this card face down and switch Sage to defense mode and end my turn."

"Yay, its my turn," Elanor said as she drew a card, her glowing eyes went wide for a moment before she slid it into her disk. "I activate Cosmic Cyclone, by paying 1000 life points I can banish one spell or trap on the field."

 _Crap, if she destroys my face down card I'm in trouble,_ Myra said as she looked down at her face down card.

"I think I'll banish, Eva's face down card," Elanor said as a cyclone appeared and sucked up the card which was revealed to be Shiranui Style Swallow Slash. "What a shame, too bad you couldn't have used that."

"Yeah, yeah," Eva said with a frown. "Just finish your move, but I'd be careful about attacking with her Protector on the field."

"Oh? Well its a good thing Chimera keeps you from activating effects when it attacks, but just to be safe," Elanor said as she pointed at Amazoness Fighter. "Chimera, do me a favor and get rid of her Fighter."

The massive monster let out a demonic sound as it bit down on the Fighter. She re-appeared a moment later kneeling in defense mode but she looked like she was made of cloth (750/1300) while the Chimera's attack rose to 3100 again.

"And, well that's my turn," Elanor said with a smirk as she looked at Eva. "Take your turn Eva, you better hope its a good one."

 **(Ev/M: 3000/3700) - (El/D: 2000/3200)**

Eva drew a card and smiled a little. "First, I activate my Everliving Underworld Cannon!" she said and a massive cannon made of skulls appeared behind her. "But we'll get to that later, for now I summon my Samurai Skull!"

A ghastly laugh was heard and a smiling skull with a samurai helmet appeared in front of her (1700/0).

"And this lets me take a zombie from my deck and send it to the graveyard," Eva continued as she took a card from her deck and slid it into her disk. She'd use this on her next turn, she just had to draw attention away from the Protector to make this work. "And I'll set one card face down and take out your Fighter with my Skull!"

The Skull laughed as it swung forward and bit down on Amazoness Fighter who shattered into pixels.

"And I'll end my turn there," Eva finished. "Lets see what you've got now Delta."

Delta drew his next card and added it to his hand before he nodded and pointed at Frightfur Daredevil and then at Samurai Skull. Daredevil cackled evily and ran forward preparing to strike down the skull.

"I activate Amazoness Protector's effect!" Myra countered as her life points dropped by 900 and Protector's attack rose to 3500. "Once per turn when you attack another monster she can intercept the attack and I pay life points equal to the difference between their attack and she gains that amount +200!"

"What?" Elanor asked in shock as the warrior woman jumped in the way of the attack and caught it with her shield then swung her sword and slashed through the Daredevil. "That's not fair!"

"Blame the creators not me," Myra said with a chuckle as she gave Eva a smile. "Thanks for the card Eva."

"You're welcome," Eva said with a nod and smiled back.

"Too bad you're not walking away unscathed," Elanor said. "Daredevil now deals 500 points of damage to you for every Frightfur monster we have in the graveyard."

"Crap," Myra said as flames flew up around her. "Okay, that's not good.

"Its okay, we're still in this," Eva said.

Delta grunted and pointed at Kraken this time and then at Samurai Skull. The Kraken swung its tentacles around and swung them at the Skull.

"And I'll now activate my trap card, Amazoness Archers!" Myra countered as archers appeared in front of her and sent arrows flying into the opposing monsters. Kraken's attack fell to 2000 and Chimera's fell to 2300 just as Kraken's tentacles cut through the skull. "And that decrease is permanent too."

Delta grunted and nodded to Myra.

 **(Ev/M: 2700/2300) - (El/D: 2000/3000)**

Myra drew her next card and nodded a little as she placed it on her disk. "I summon Command Knight!" She said as a female knight in red armor appeared and drew her sword. "She may not be an Amazon, but any powerful female warrior is welcome to the tribe. She also grants all warrior monsters an additional 400 attack points."

Command Knight's attack rose to 1600 and Amazoness Protector gave her a nod as her attack rose to 2800.

"Now, for your Chimera," Myra said as she nodded to Protector. "Amazoness Protector, destroy Frightfur Chimera with Blade of the Exiled!"

Amazoness Protector nodded and held her sword aloft as she ran forward and slashed through the Chimera. It let out a loud scream before it shattered into tiny pieces. Elanor fell back and got to her feet after a moment.

"And that's all for my turn," Myra said with a smile. "And you can't attack my Command Knight as long as I have another monster on the field. Good luck getting around my monsters."

 **(Ev/M: 2700/2300) - (El/D: 1500/3000)**

"Alright, my turn," Elanor said and drew a card. "Does your Protector activate when she is attacked?"

"No, only when one of my other monsters are attacked," Myra answered, she was suddenly worried, what did she mean by that?

"Good, I summon my Edge Imp Frightfurloid!" Elanor said as she placed the card on her disk and a strange mish-mash of stuffed animals with a dog head and holding a bottle with strange spheres in it appeared (1300/1300).

Eva blinked a little, she didn't know this monster but there was definitely something about it that made her uneasy. Elanor clearly had something planned for it, was she going to fusion summon again?

"And, my Frightfurloid's effect lets me target a Frightfur Fusion monster in my graveyard like Daredevil and increase his attack and defense to that monster's," Elanor said with a smile as the Daredevil appeared and flew into the strange stuffed animal as its attack rose to 3000. "Frightfurloid, take out Amazoness Protector with Mixed Up Slash!"

The strange monster ran forward and slashed through the warrior woman and she cried as she shattered.

"I'm sorry Eva..." Myra said.

"Its okay, we've got this," Eva said with a smile. "It wasn't going to survive forever, you'll be fine."

"I end my turn," Elanor said. "But this will be over soon enough."

 **(El/M: 2700/2100) - (El/D: 1500/3000)**

"You're right," Eva said as she drew her next card, but it didn't matter. "First, I activate the trap card Shiranui Style Skill. This trap lets me special summon one Zombie from my hand, so welcome to the field Il Blud!"

A large monster dressed like a prisoner with a bulging stomach and a horrible face appeared in front of her (2100/800).

"Okay, that's not bad," Elanor said. "But its not enough to finish..."

"When I summoned Samurai Skull, I discarded another one of my Shiranui Spectralswords," Eva said as the man with the sword appeared behind her along with a massive rotting dragon. "And this lets me tune it with the Berserk Dragon I discarded before."

"But, that's a level 10 monster!" Elanor said.

"That's right," Eva said with a smile as the two monsters flew up above her. "Lord of the undead, spirit of flames, shine your light down on the field! I synchro summon, Shiranui Sunsaga!"

 **(2* + 8* = 10*)**

There was a loud neigh followed by the sound of hooves. A flaming horse came galloping into view with a rider on its back. He had grey hair tied into a ponytail and was dressed in armored robes as he drew a sword that lit on fire (3500/0).

"And it gets worse for you," Eva continued as two cards slid out of her graveyard. "I can return two of my Zombie Synchros to the extra deck and destroy both of your monsters."

The tall man let out a hyah as he slashed through the two monsters quickly and they shattered into pieces. He held his sword aloft and pointed it right at Elanor.

"Its time to finish this," Eva said. "Sunsaga, attack Delta directly with Sword of the Rising Sun!"

Sunsaga nodded and galloped forward on his horse and slashed at the Big Daddy. Delta grunted as he fell back onto the ground.

"Now, Il Blud, finish this, attack Elanor directly but keep it slow," Eva continued as the inmate lumbered forward and hit Elanor.

 **(Ev/M: 2700/2100) - (El/D: 0/0)**

The holograms faded as they turned off their duel disks. Elanor and Delta got up and gave them a nod.

"That was fun!" Elanor said with a smile as she ran over andd shook Eva's hand. "Thank you for the amazing game."

"You're welcome," Eva said with a smile as she gave Myra a nod.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Myra said as Elanor shook her hand too.

Elanor looked up as she paused a little. "I hear someone calling for me, come Mr. Bubbles," she said with a smile as she and Delta walked off before a strange tear opened in front of them and they vanished through it.

"What was that about?" Myra asked.

"Come on, we need to get back to HQ," Eva said with a sigh. "There's a lot we have to report in on, and, well I think you'll want to learn more about those two."

"Uh, okay," Myra said as they got in their vehicles and drove off towards the Shadowchasers HQ.

 **00000**

"Why are we starting with BioShock Infinite?" Myra asked as they sat down in front of the TV as Eva started the system up.

"Its a chronological thing," Eva said with a chuckle, they had just finished talking with Judy about the summons but there wasn't much they could do. "Trust me, its confusing but its fun."

"Yeah, okay," Myra said as she went to the option to start a new game.

Eva sighed a little, she hadn't gotten a chance to tell Myra what she wanted to with everything that was going on. There wasn't really anything that could be done about that though.

She just smiled and let her play the game as the familiar intro played.

 _"Booker. Are you afraid of God?"_

 _"No. But I'm afraid of you."_

 **00000**

 _Shiranui Style Skill is an announced card not released yet._

 _Fluffal Angel and Edge Imp Cotton Eater are both Japanese cards not released yet in America._

 **00000**

 **Fluffal Toybox.**

 **Field Spell**

 **Image of the Fluffal monsters all playing around in a toy box with strange eyes over it. During your standby phase you have to place one card in your graveyard on the bottom of your deck or destroy this card. Once per turn you can Fusion summon a "Frightfur" monster using one monster on your field and one monster on any player's field.**

 **Amazoness Weaver**

 **2**

 **Earth**

 **Warrior/Effect**

 **500/500**

 **As long as this monster is face-up on the field, you do not have to sacrifice monsters to keep "The Unfriendly Amazon" out.**

 **Redemption of the Unfriendly Amazon**

 **Spell Card**

 **Image of the Unfriendly Amazon being held by Amazoness Weaver while she cries and surrounded by the other Amazoness monsters. You can sacrifice "The Unfriendly Amazon" and "Amazoness Weaver" to special summon one "Amazoness Protector" from your extra deck.**

 **Amazoness Protector.**

 **8**

 **Earth**

 **Warrior/Fusion/Effect**

 **2400/2100**

 **The Unfriendly Amazon + Amazoness Weaver**

 **This monster can only be special summoned by Fusion summoning using the above monsters or by the effect of "Redemption of the Unfriendly Amazon." Once per turn when your opponent attacks a monster you can redirect the attack to this monster. When this monster uses its effect, you can pay life points equal to the difference between this monster's attack and the opposing monster's attack, this monster gains attack equal to the difference +200.**

 **00000**

 _ **And there we go, sorry it took so long but I'm finally done with chapter 6.**_

 _ **Next chapter, Charlie gets called back to the Leo Institute to oversee her old class. However not all is well as a former student comes after her. But this time Charlie's got a few tricks up her sleeve. Find out next time in, "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing."**_

 _ **See you then.**_

 _ **Also, I've added personalities to the Morgana's Kin Files. We will be discussing important members throughout the long history of the organization. And, well, where better to start than the one that is most important here?**_

 **00000**

 _ **Morgana's Kin Files:**_

 _ **Morgan St. Clair, the First Chaser.**_

 _ **Earth, Universe YG-5811.**_

There's a lot of questions as to exactly why Morgana's Kin first entered an alliance with the Shadowchasers 500 years ago. Some people have wondered if it was a decision made by the council or if it was a unilateral decision by the representative in the universe the Shadowchasers call home.

Morgan St. Clair was the representative at the time of the alliance, she had been recruited and trained some years before and had been sent to deal with a threat that the Shadowchasers were unaware of, a cult of Necromancers in North America that were performing a mad ritual.

While Morgan was able to stop the cult, it was too late, they had attracted the attention of Atropus, the World Born Dead. Whether this was their intention or if it was merely a side-effect of the Ritual, she realized that Earth was in danger and she set out to do everything she could to stop Atropus.

What caught her attention however was when the Shadowchasers under Jalal managed to stop Atropus. While she never told them what had attracted the attention of Atropus, she was certainly intrigued and made the choice to approach Jalal and they formed the alliance that is still in play to this day.

The High Council's reaction to this alliance however was mixed at first as they were unsure of whether or not they should get more directly involved with the affairs of a universe. Finally however they made the choice to honor the agreement made with Morgan St. Clair.

Morgan was by her nature curious about Shadowkind and started the search for the Homeworld of Shadow carried out by Morgana's Kin. While she is long dead, she is regarded as one of the most important members of the organization because of her actions in life.

 **Story Ideas:** Obviously, you can't actually include her in any modern day stories, but you can do a lot with her legacy. Like any member she did a lot of research and study into things, perhaps she is even the one who found the Homeworld of Shadow for the organization if you want to include that.

Also if you wanted to write a story about Shadowchasers of the past focused on the period after the Great Treaty was written, she'd make sense as a character. Morgan St. Clair was mostly a scholar and researcher that focused on alchemy, but she was a warrior in her own right when she needed to be.

Whatever you do with her, she's still one of the most important members of the organization when it comes to this universe.


	7. Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

_Okay, so this chapter requires a little explanation._

 _Fairly recently I got into Japanese Tokusatsu shows, mostly Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. Its actually why Charlie got the deck she did (and another she'll use later in the fic), but I wanted to have her use a deck based on a third show._

 _So, yeah I kinda had to make it myself. If you want to learn more about the show, well, I hope you have a strong stomach for horror. Or I can just show you the reviews I've watched._

 _But that's not all here, there's a tribute to a long-running Tokusatsu franchise and in particular the first show I ever watched in it. Its one of my favorites and one of the best, so look it up sometime. Kamen Rider Gaim in particular._

 _So, shall we begin?_

 _Disclaimer: I only own what I created._

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 **CHAPTER 7:**

 **WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING**

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 _ **I don't think I could ever make a good teacher.**_

 _ **Oh, I've been able to be a mentor to other Shadowchasers, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about standing in front of a class and lecturing on something that most students probably wouldn't be interested in.**_

 _ **Yeah, not really my thing, but Charlie did it well until she left the job to join the Shadowchasers. Sometimes she still gets called back to help at the Leo Institute as well, I just hope she knows what she's doing.**_

 _ **Unfortunately, not all students excel, and sometimes there are those who cut corners, as she learned. And sometimes they come back to haunt us.**_

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 **(Male Student: 3100) - (Female Student: 2600)**

"I'll detach an overlay unit from my Blade Armor Ninja so my White Dragon Ninja can attack again," a Leo Institute student with short brown hair said as he took the card off his disk and nodded to the white colored ninja with the spectral dragon around it. "Now, attack her directly with White Dragon Roar!"

The ninja ran forward as the spectral dragon flew around it and then at his opponent with a roar.

"Activate trap card, Dimension Wall!" His opponent countered as her trap card flipped face up and a vortex appeared in front of her and the attack went through it and flew back and hit the male student. "Sorry Otogi, but you're going to have to try harder than that."

"Fine, I end my turn," Otogi said with a shake of his head. "But this isn't over yet, you have no cards left in your hand or field Sasha, you don't stand a chance."

 **(Otogi: 400) - (Sasha: 2600)**

"We'll see about that," Sasha said as she drew her next card. "And since you destroyed my Vampire's Curse I can bring it back for the cost of 500 life points."

With that, a tall monster with pale skin and spiked green hair appeared. He was dressed in purple armor and had one red wing sticking out of his back (2000/800 + 500).

"He's still too weak to both destroy my monsters and finish me off," Otogi pointed out with a smirk. "You're going to have to try harder than that."

"Oh I will," Sasha said with a smirk as she reached into her disk and took a card out. "Since I special summoned a level 5 or higher monster I can special summon Vampire Grace from my graveyard for the price of 2000 life points."

A woman dressed in purple nobility robes with a purple and gold headdress appeared. She had curled grey hair and was carrying a golden staff with a red orb on the end (2000/1200).

"A steep cost for a monster that won't do the job," Otogi said with a snort.

"I'm not done yet," Sasha said and smirked as a swirling vortex appeared in front of her. "I form the overlay network once more!"

The two monsters flew into the vortex and a form began to rise from it.

 _"Blood of a mortal woman and twisted demon, come together and give birth to new life in undeath. I Xyz summon, Dhampir Vampire Sheridan!"_

The monster that rose had blonde hair that was slicked back and was dressed in a white nobleman's outfit with gold highlights and red under it. He smiled as he saw the Ninjas who looked back stoically (2600/1000).

"So you managed to summon Alucard, and you will win if you attack my Ninja, go ahead and do it," Otogi said with a sigh.

"I think, I'll take out your stronger monster, I play my last card, the field spell Vampire Kingdom!" Sasha said as she activated a field spell and the field around them changed to an old fashioned town with a castle on the hill behind her as Sheridan's attack rose to 3100. "Now Sheridan, destroy White Dragon Ninja, Blood Sword Slash!"

Sheridan drew a sword and ran forward, slashing through the Ninja as it shattered into pixels. Sasha's face appeared on the screens with the word "WINNER!" flashing over it.

 **(O: 0) - (S: 100)**

"Very good, you two have made a lot of progress," Charlie said as she got up and clapped a little as she smiled at the two duelists. "Sasha, your vampire deck has improved, but you took a risk at the end there. If Otogi had been able to destroy your field you'd have lost your monster and lost the duel."

"Yes, well it didn't happen did it?" Sasha said as she deactivated her duel disk and looked back at her. "I mean, anything can happen in a duel. We have to take risks."

"Well, yes, but sometimes you have to make sure you don't take too big of a risk," the Xyz professor said as he approached them. "Thank you for coming to visit Professor Vaughn, what do you think of the progress the students have made?"

"They've done very well, I'm glad to see they're improving under your tutelage Professor," Charlie said with a smile as she shook hands with the professor.

"Of course, now I believe... yes, we still have time for one of you to duel Professor Vaughn," the professor said with a nod as she looked at the Students. "So, which one of you would like to..."

"That would be my honor," a voice said from behind them and they turned to see a young man with brown hair with a red streak in it and dressed in a black uniform jacket with streaks of red, blue, green, and yellow walking up. "The professor still owes me from what happened before."

"Jonas, I told you not to come to the school anymore," Charlie said with a frown as Jonas stopped in front of them and smirked.

"Yes, well you're no longer a teacher here so I don't have to listen to you," Jonas said with a smirk. "Besides, I've found a much better school that's taught me things you wouldn't imagine. Now I'm back to get revenge."

"You were caught cheating, the Leo Institute..." the Xyz professor said only to have Charlie interrupt her.

"If he wants to duel me I'll duel him," Charlie said as she reached down and opened a deck box. She needed to pick the right deck, and while it was still being tested this was a good opportunity to try it out. "But don't think I'll make it easy for you."

"I wouldn't want you to," Jonas said as he slid his deck into his duel disk and activated it as the students and teacher got out of the way.

"Professor Ishi, I believe you still have my Action field," Charlie said as they both moved into their places. "So if you don't mind."

"Yes, of course," Professor Ishi said as she input commands. "Activating the Action Field Mysterious Forest of Helheim!"

The field around them changed to a strange distorted forest with trees that grew strange looking purple fruits from them. Charlie slid her deck into her duel disk and activated it as she smiled and looked back at Jonas.

"Welcome to Helheim, the mysterious forest of the Inves," Charlie said with a smirk. "There are many mysteries in these woods that are waiting to be discovered. Let's see if you can find them all or will you be subjected to the horrors of this mysterious forest?"

"Yeah, yeah, I've seen you use it a hundred times," Jonas said. "You always did like this field."

"Yes, well, let's see if you can figure out what's waiting for us," Charlie said as Jonas growled and activated his duel disk.

"LETS DUEL!" They said in unison.

 **(Charlie: 8000) - (Jonas: 8000)**

 _"Action cards dispersing,"_ the computerized female voice said.

"I'll make the first move," Jonas said as he drew his opening hand and started looking around for Action Cards. "I'll start by setting two cards face down and summon my Big Shield Gardna in attack mode!"

Charlie blinked when a large man in armor appeared in front of him holding a large shield as he stood up (100/2600).

"Okay... that's odd," Charlie commented as she tried to remember Jonas' strategies. "Why did you summon that monster in attack mode?"

"I'll show you soon enough," Jonas said as he looked over his hand for a moment before starting to run into the forest and calling back to Charlie. "That's all for my turn!"

"Then it's my draw," Charlie said as she started to run through the forest too. She knew that somewhere in the forest there was an action spell that would give her an edge, she just had to find it. "And I'll start with this, my Wolf Priest - Akaza!"

An older Asian man dressed in black with short hair appeared. He took out a strange looking brush as he waited for a command (1800/1300).

"A Wolf Priest?" Jonas asked confused. "What is that thing?"

"He's a member of an ancient Order dedicated to protecting the world from horrible creatures born out of the darkest parts of humanity," Charlie said as she reached for her deck. "Here's how his effect works, I can add one of a specific type of spell to my hand."

She took her deck out and selected a card that she slid into her hand before she picked two cards and slid them into her disk and they appeared in front of her.

 _Those face down cards worry me, but if I can deal damage its worth the risk,_ Charlie thought as Jonas and the large warrior came into view again. "Akaza, attack Big Shield Gardna with Sealing Stroke!"

The Priest ran forward and prepared to draw something with the brush just as one of Jonas' cards flipped up.

"Go, Ready for Intercepting!" He counters as Big Shield Gardna was replaced by a face-down monster and Azaka just connected with the shield and was pushed back. "Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"

 _Okay, that was clever, but it's not over yet,_ Charlie thought as she gave Akaza a nod. "Alright, not a bad move, I'll end my turn there."

 **(C: 7200) - (J: 8000)**

"Then it's my draw!" Jonas said as he drew his next card and smirked a little as he slid it into his hand. "I'll set this card face down for later, for now, I activate the spell card Weapon Change!"

 _Weapon Change? That's an old card,_ Charlie thought as Jonas' field started to glow for a moment. She looked around as she went past some more of the strange trees and fruits as she kept looking around.

"Now I'll use Weapon Change's effect by paying 700 life points I can switch the attack and defense of Big Shield Gardna!" Jonas said as Big Shield Gardna glowed and let out a battle cry as his attack became 2600.

"Crap..." Charlie said as she spotted an action card in the nook of a tree that she ran towards just as Jonas came into view.

"Big Shield Gardna, attack her Wolf Priest with Shield Bash!" Jonas ordered as the warrior ran forward and slammed his shield into the priest and shattered it.

"Go trap card, Defense Draw!" Charlie countered as her trap flipped up and she drew a card from her deck before the damage hit her just as she grabbed the spell card off the nook of the tree and looked at it. _Lockseed, I'll save this for later._

"Fine, you got lucky this turn," Jonas said as he looked his hand over for a moment. "I'll set one monster in defense mode and end my turn there."

 **(C: 7200) - (J: 7300)**

"Then it's my turn!" Charlie said as she drew her next card before selecting another card from her hand and setting it on her disk. "I summon my Wolf Knight - Kouga!"

A new monster jumped into view. He was dressed in a white coat over a black undershirt and had Japanese features with short reddish hair (1800/1500). Charlie reached for her deck and took a card out that she added to her hand.

"That's new, but nothing I can't handle," Jonas said.

"We'll see about that, I activate the spell card Legend of the Golden Knight!" Charlie said as she slid the card into her disk as she moved behind a tree and a book appeared in her hands. "And since I summoned a Wolf Knight, I can special summon a Wolf Raiment from my hand, so welcome to the field Wolf Raiment - Goten!"

A loud neighing sound was heard as a golden armored horse galloped into view (300/1200).

"That's still not enough," Jonas said. "You're going to have to try harder than that if you want to beat me!"

"I know, which is why I'm adding the Wolf Raiment - Garoken spell card to Kouga!" Charlie said as a sword appeared in Kouga's hand. "And now, because I have these cards on the field I can perform an Xyz summoning!"

"What? How? You only have two monsters and they don't have the same levels," Jonas pointed out.

"The Wolf cards are built to Xyz summon," Charlie said as the vortex appeared in front of her as Kouga raised his sword into the air. "Garoken counts as an overlay unit for specific monsters and Goten counts as level 4."

"Well, then I activate my trap card, Metaverse!" Jonas said as his trap flipped up. "I now can activate a field spell from my deck, so I'll activate my Sargasso the D.D. Battlefield!"

The sky above them suddenly turned into an unnatural color. Half destroyed ships appeared in the sky as well as other pieces of debris.

"Okay, but that doesn't stop me from summoning my monster," Charlie said as her three monsters flew into the vortex. "Say the change!"

A new monster rose out of the vortex. It was a male form dressed in golden armor with a sword in his hand. His helmet was animalistic and looked like the head of a wolf as he raised his sword to the sky (2800/2500).

"That's... what is that?" Jonas asked as he took a step back.

"Wolf Knight - Garo," Charlie said with a smirk. "The most legendary of my Wolf Knights. He is one of three Xyz monsters in this deck, and I'm going to show you his real strength. Garo, attack Big Shield Gardna with Soul Metal Blade!"

Garo nodded as he ran forward and slashed through the warrior with his sword and it shattered. Jonas blinked a little when he looked at his life point counter which had gone down by 400 instead of 200.

"What the... how did I lose twice as much life points?" He asked.

"It's simple, as long as Garo has Overlay Units all battle damage he does is doubled," Charlie said. "I'll end my turn which..."

She screamed as lightning struck her again from the sky. She knelt down a little as she breathed heavily.

"That... is not good," she muttered as she looked up at the strange sky. That field spell had to be built to fight Xyz decks, Jonas had come prepared. "Fine, but since its my end phase I have to remove one overlay unit from Garo."

She picked one card up and slid it into her graveyard as she looked back at Jonas.

"I end my turn there."

 **(C: 6200) - (J: 6900)**

"My turn," Jonas said as he drew his next card and frowned a little.

"Nothing that will help huh?" Charlie asked with a slight smirk.

"I'll set this monster in defense mode and set a card face down," Jonas said as the two face-down cards appeared in front of him. "I'll end my turn there."

 _Not what I wanted, but I can at least make this work, and my field spell will keep damaging her as long as she has that Xyz monster,_ Jonas thought as he looked around for a sign of another action card.

"My draw then," Charlie said as she drew her next card and frowned a little. This wasn't going to help her very much, at least not right now so she added it to her hand and picked out another card.

The problem with this deck was that it ran through cards in her hand very quickly. Hopefully, she'd be able to manage this somehow, the last thing she needed to do was lose in front of her former students.

"Alright then," she said as she picked a card from her hand and set it on her disk. "I'll set this monster face down and attack your face-down monster with Garo!"

The golden wolf knight gripped his sword and ran forward as he swung it at the face-down monster. A blonde elf dressed in green armor appeared in the place of the face-down monster and caught Garo's sword with his own as he pushed him back (1400/1200).

"Obnoxious Celtic Guard... Great," Charlie said as the monster crouched in defense mode and held his sword out. "Still using old fashioned warriors I see?"

"Well, if it ain't broke don't fix it," Jonas said as he crossed his arms. "And I've still got some new tricks waiting in the wings. So you had better be careful, you never know what I have planned."

 _He's already got some tricky strategies, I just need to be ready for them,_ Charlie thought as she looked over her remaining cards for a moment. Her hand contained a spell she couldn't use and the action spell she had picked up before. _Nothing I can do, for now, I just have to hope I get something I can use before Garo's time limit is up._

"Is there anything else?" She heard Jonas from somewhere in the forest. "Your monster is too strong to defeat mine after all."

"No, I end my turn there," Charlie said as she kept going. If she had an idea of where more Action Cards were it might help her find the special one.

"Which means my field activates again!" Jonas laughed as lightning struck Charlie again.

 **(C: 5700) - (J: 6900)**

"Then it's my draw," Jonas said as he stopped by a tree and drew his next card. "Well, not much I can do for now. I'll set one card face down and end my turn."

 _That's not good, he's got two face downs now, that's not good,_ Charlie thought as she scanned the forest for any signs of more action cards to grab later. _And Garo's going to leave the field as soon as I end my turn so I have to make this turn count._

"Come on lady, take your turn already," Jonas said. "We don't have all day."

"Fine, I'll draw," Charlie said as she drew her next card and smiled a little. "Perfect, I've got just the monster to get around your guard."

"I'd like to see you try," Jonas said.

"I summon, my Sunlight Unicorn!" Charlie said as a white Unicorn with a blue fiery mane appeared in front of her (1800/1000). She climbed on the Unicorn's back and gave it a nod.

"Why would you use something like that? It doesn't fit your theme at all," Jonas asked confused.

"Oh but she does, and I'll show you why by using her effect, I get to reveal the top card on my deck and if its an equip spell it goes to my hand," Charlie said as she reached for her deck.

"Yeah, and if it's not it goes to the bottom of your deck," Jonas said.

"This deck is built to use equip spells, I have confidence that it won't let me down, I draw!" Charlie said as she drew her next card and looked at it. "And I got the equip spell, Wolf Raiment - Brush!"

"Another Wolf Raiment card?" Jonas asked with a groan.

"That's right, but I can't use it right now," Charlie said as she added the card to her hand. "Now Sunlight Unicorn, let's go take out that elf!"

The Unicorn nodded and galloped through the forest while Charlie held on tight. When they finally saw Jonas and his monsters the Unicorn sent a blast of magical energy from her horn and shattered the elf.

"Okay, so you managed to make a good move..." Jonas said.

"I'm not even done yet, Garo attack him directly!" Charlie said as the golden knight nodded and rushed forward as he slashed at Jonas. "And I'll end my turn, which sadly means Garo's time is up so he goes back to my extra deck as well as triggers your field."

She picked the card up off her disk as lightning struck her, then returned it to the extra deck slot. Motes of energy fell around Garo before he vanished into thin air.

 **(C: 5200) - (J: 4100)**

"Well, if your monster can't stay on the field then all the better for me," Jonas said as he drew his next card. "I activate Pot of Extravagance, which lets me draw two more cards in return for banishing six cards from my extra deck face down."

He took six cards out of his extra deck and pocketed them before he drew two cards.

 _Something about that feels a little too convenient,_ Charlie thought as she eyed him. _I get the feeling he uses those cards just to use the spell card. Clever, but he's basically throwing his cards away._

"Now, I'll set one card face down and summon my Motivating Captain," Jonas continued as a monster resembling the famous Marauding Captain appeared only with several items on his back with a determined look on his face (400/1200). "And he's got a handy effect, I can bring back one level 4 monster in defense mode with its effects negated."

"Wait, what?" Charlie asked as she looked back at Jonas. "Don't tell me you're going to bring back..."

"That's right, I'm bringing back my Big Shield Gardna," Jonas said with a grin as his warrior holding the shield appeared crouched in defense mode (100/2600).

 _Crap, that means if I attack him it won't go to attack mode, that is clever,_ Charlie thought as she looked over her hand for a moment.

"I'll end my turn there, there's not much else I can do, at least for now," Jonas said with a chuckle. "But I know you use a lot of Xyz monsters, so my field is going to make using them hard isn't it?"

"Maybe, but I've got other things I can do," Charlie said as she drew her next card and nodded to Sunlight Unicorn. "I'll play my spell card Fairy of the Spring, which lets me add one equip card to my hand from my graveyard."

She hit a button and a card slid out of her graveyard slot that she added to her hand. "But of course I can't use it this turn, but seeing as how it requires a specific monster I can't at the moment anyway."

She glanced at her Garoken spell card and then back at Jonas' field. He had a weak monster in attack mode and several face downs, but it might be worth the risk. At least she hoped so.

"Alright, Sunlight Unicorn attack his Motivating Captain!" Charlie said as the Unicorn galloped forward and blasted the Captain.

"Go Defense Draw!" Jonas countered as a shield appeared around him and he drew a card. "So I don't take any damage from your attack."

"Fine, I'll end my turn with one card face down," Charlie finished as a face-down card appeared in front of her.

"Then it's my turn," Jonas said as he drew his next card and smirked a little. _Perfect, this is part of my ultimate combo I just have to wait until the right moment to use it,_ he thought.

"So are you going to use that card or smile at it all day?" Charlie asked.

"I'll get to that in a moment, first I activate my Emblem of Dragon Destroyer!" Jonas said as he slid the card into his disk and a gold and black symbol appeared in front of him. "As I'm sure you know this lets me add a specific monster to my hand."

 _I do, but why would he use Buster Blader?_ Charlie thought to herself as she eyed Jonas. _Sure he's a powerful warrior, but he's not the kind of card most warrior duelists use unless they're facing Dragons. He's up to something, and I don't like it one bit._

"And now... I think I'll run for an action card!" Jonas said as he turned and ran through the forest with Charlie following after him.

The two Duelists finally came out onto a clear area on a cliff and stopped. They were overlooking a ruined city with a large overgrown tree dominating it, Jonas spotted the Action card first and swiped it as he held it up.

"This field has weird action spells, you know that right?" He asked as he looked at the card.

"This field was modeled on the forest of Helheim from a TV show, the action spells work with that theme," Charlie said as she crossed her arms. "Though I doubt you care much about that."

"You'd be right, but this card is exactly what I need, I play the action spell Serpent's Temptation!" He said as he reached for his deck as an image of a man dressed in white and brown with part of the clothing pulled up slightly over his face and a scarf on his head appeared. "This lets me draw a card and later I can banish it to banish one of your face-up cards."

"Indeed, but you've taken the fruit from the serpent," Charlie said as the Unicorn came to a stop. "So the costs of doing so will be great."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it," Jonas said dismissively as he slid two cards into his disk and two cards appeared in front of him. "I'll set this card face down and set a monster in defense mode to end my turn."

"Then it's my turn," Charlie said as she drew her next card and flinched a little. It was only good in certain situations and this most certainly was not one of them. "I'll set this monster in defense mode and take out your face down monster with my Unicorn."

The Unicorn fired another beam of magic at the face-down monster which was revealed to be a knight with a sword and shield in his hands before he shattered.

"Familiar Knight?" Charlie asked. "Well, I don't have any level 4 monsters."

"Neither do I," Jonas said with a shrug. "Oh well."

"Fine, I'll end my turn there," Charlie finished.

"Then it's my turn," Jonas said and grinned when he saw the card. "First I'm activating my face down card D. Tribe!"

 _D. Tribe? That's an old card, all it does is turn his monsters into dragons,_ Charlie thought as Big Shield Gardna took on a more scaly appearance. _Why would he do something like that?_

"And I'll add Polymerization!" Jonas added.

 _That would do it,_ Charlie thought with a flinch, she had an idea of what was coming and she didn't like it.

"Dragonslayer and warrior of the dragon tribe, come together to create a monster who makes the earth shudder!" Jonas said as the two monsters turned into energy and flew into the swirling vortex. "I fusion summon, Buster Blader, the Dragon Destroyer Swordsman!"

The monster that emerged from the vortex resembled the infamous Buster Blader at first glance. However, his armor was white and blue and more scale-like with a large sword in his hands that he held upright (2800/2500).

"Well, he's certainly powerful, but I don't have any dragons on my field or graveyard," Charlie said as she backed off a little. "You may have made a mistake."

"Oh really?" Jonas asked as he pointed at the face-down card he set the turn before. "I activate my trap card, Samsara Dogma!"

 _So that's his plan... crap!_ Charlie thought as the face-down card flipped up.

"And this lets me declare one type of monster and all monsters in both our graveyards become that type, so I declare Dragons," Jonas said with a grin as energy flowed into Buster Blader and his stats went up to 5800/5500. "And as I'm sure you know, that means Buster Blader gains 1000 attack for each Dragon in your graveyard."

"Crap..." Charlie said as she kicked at Sunlight Unicorn a bit as they dove off the cliff and headed for the ruins.

"Buster Blader, destroy Sunlight Unicorn with Sword of the Supreme Dragon Slayer!" Jonas ordered as the dragon slayer ran forward and started to bring his sword down on the Unicorn.

"I activate the Action Spell, Lockseed!" Charlie countered as she tossed the Action Spell she had picked up before into her slot. "This protects my Unicorn from being destroyed in battle this turn!"

 _"ORANGE ARMS!"_ A computerized voice said as a metal orange appeared over her head and formed armor over the Unicorn as the warrior's sword bounced off of it.

"But you still take damage," Jonas pointed out.

"I know..." Charlie said as her life points dropped. "But I get to draw another card!"

She drew a card and looked at it for a moment and grinned a little when she saw what it was.

"Bah, fine, I'll get your monster next turn," Jonas said. "I end my turn there, but you're going to have to try hard to beat my warrior."

 **(C: 1200) - (J: 4100)**

"Then it's my turn!" Charlie said as she drew her next card and looked her hand over for a moment. _This is going to be risky, but if it pays off I can deal with his dragon slayer,_ she thought as she reached for a card. "I'll start with this, my Wolf Priest - Jabi!"

A woman appeared this time, she was dressed in black and held two large red fans in her hands as she danced around with them (1600/900).

"Another one of your Priests?" Jonas asked.

"Indeed, and since I have her on the field I can play the spell card Wolf Raiment - Bauga Tag," Charlie continued as a piece of paper with Japanese writing on it appeared in Jabi's hand. "Here's how this works, for the price of 1000 life points I can banish one spell card from either graveyard and use that card's effect, and I'll pick Serpent's Temptation."

Jonas scowled as the card slid out of his graveyard and Charlie drew another card. At the same time, Jabi began to glow slightly.

"And I'll add my Twin Twisters, so by discarding one card..." Charlie continued as she slid a card into her graveyard. "I can destroy both your field and that last face down on the right."

"And I'll chain my face down Dimensional Barrier!" Jonas countered. "Now I can declare one type of summoning and you can't do it until the end of your turn, and I pick Xyz summoning."

"Well that certainly puts a damper on my plans," Charlie muttered as the battlefield above them shattered, she picked another card and slid it into her disk. "Fine, I'll set this card face down and equip Jabi with the spell Wolf Raiment - Brush."

A brush appeared in Jabi's hand as she started to glow even brighter as her attack rose to 2000. "Now, I'll use Jabi's effect, for every spell card I played she got a Wolf Counter, and by spending all of them I can bring back a monster," she said as Kouga appeared again next to Jabi.

"Too bad you can't Xyz summon huh?" Jonas said with a smirk.

"I know, I'll end my turn there," Charlie finished, she just had to hope that he didn't draw something to destroy her face down. She had gambled on not destroying Samsara Dogma, and she now had to hope it didn't backfire on her.

 **(C: 200) - (J: 4100)**

"Then it's my turn!" Jonas said as he drew his next card. "And I summon my Evocator Chevalier!"

A new warrior appeared this one was dressed in red armor with a sword in one hand and a fire in the other (1900/900).

"Now, time to end this, I'll attack your Priest with Buster Blader, Sword of the Supreme Dragon Slayer!" Jonas commanded as the warrior lifted his sword and ran at the Priest.

"Go trap card, Zedom Seeds!" Charlie countered as her trap flipped up and seeds flew out of it and into the warrior. "This negates your attack and during each of your standby phases your monster loses 500 attack points."

"Clever, but fine, I'll still take out your Knight with Evocator Chevalier!" Jonas commanded and the firey monster ran forward and slashed through Kouga.

Charlie flinched a little as Jonas jumped down from the cliff and grabbed something on his way down. _Uh-oh... he's got another action spell..._ she thought.

"I activate the Action Spell, Overlord's Power!" Jonas said as he landed on the ground. A new monster appeared above him, this one was white with a hood pulled over his face, his features seemed vaguely humanoid with long robes and cloth flowing down. "And here's how this works, by paying half my life points I can discard cards off the top of my deck until either I reach a spell or a trap or you run out of monsters, and for each monster, your monster is destroyed by my friend here."

"Rosuyo isn't exactly what I'd call a friend," Charlie commented as she glanced at the Overlord who gave her a nod.

"Who cares, this is the strongest action spell I've ever seen!" Jonas laughed as he drew his next card. "And I got Blade Knight!"

Rosuyo raised his hand and lightning struck the face-down monster which was revealed to be some sort of ring.

"D.D. Warrior Lady!"

Sunlight Unicorn neighed loudly as Charlie just managed to avoid the lightning strike as she shattered.

"Bull Blader!"

Lightning struck Jabi this time as she screamed loudly.

"And finally... Twin Sword Marauder!"

The final bolt of lightning struck Charlie's last face-down monster revealed to be a Familiar Knight.

"And since you now have five more Dragons in the graveyard, my Buster Blader gains a big boost," Jonas said with a grin as Buster Blader's attack jumped to 9800. "Now, of course, I'm not allowed to attack you directly during my next Battle Phase, but I'm sure that won't make that much of a difference. You're down to 100 life points and I just wiped out your field with the strongest action spell in this field."

"You... didn't use the strongest..." Charlie muttered as she struggled to get to her feet, her hand brushing against a card which she picked up unconsciously.

"Whatever you say, I end my turn there," Jonas finished. "Let's see what you've got now."

 **(C: 100) - (J: 2050)**

"Alright, then it's my draw!" Charlie said as she drew her next card and added it to her hand when she noticed what card she had picked up. "And I'm afraid Jonas, this is where our duel ends."

"What? How are you going to pull that off, you have no monsters and only two cards in your hand, how do you plan to destroy my monster?" Jonas demanded.

"Oh, I'll get to him in a moment, first I play the spell card Hidden Armory," Charlie said as she slid the card she had drawn into her disk and discarded the top card off her deck. "And thanks to this I get my Brush back."

"I'm still not getting it..." Jonas said.

"When you knocked me back before, I found an action spell of my own," Charlie said as she took the last card out of her hand and slid it into her disk. There was a shining light around them as a golden apple appeared in front of her.

"What is that?" Jonas demanded.

"This? This is the thing that everyone who comes to Helheim searches for," Charlie said. "This is the power of a god, what Riders and Overlords alike fought over. The power of the Forbidden Fruit!"

She reached forward and grabbed the golden apple as energy flowed around her and into her body. A strange lock appeared in her hand with several fruits on it and a black and yellow belt appeared on her waist.

"Henshin!" She said as she opened the lock and slid it into her belt.

 _"Lock Open! Kiwami Arms! Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai, Dai Shogun!"_ The belt said in the same mechanized voice said again.

Armor formed over Charlie's body. It resembled that of a samurai made out of silver metal with a golden crest on the forehead. The visor was red and green with a cape and a chest plate that featured several pieces of fruit.

"Okay, your action spells are getting weirder and weirder..." Jonas muttered.

"Maybe, but this one is the most powerful Action Spell on the field," Charlie said. "But this is just an aesthetic effect. To activate this action spell I have to have no monsters on my field and I lose all but 1 life points as well as destroy all my spell and trap cards..."

Her remaining cards shattered as her life points dropped down to 1.

"Now, I get to special summon as many monsters from my graveyard as I can, the catch is that at the end of my turn all cards on my field are destroyed," Charlie continued. "So this card is very much all or nothing."

 _"Fruit Basket!"_ Her belt said as she flipped the lock down.

Sunlight Unicorn, Kouga, Akaza, Jabi, and the weird ring from before all appeared in front of her. She took a deep breath and smiled, after everything that had happened it was time to end this.

"Now, I use Kouga, Jabi, and my Wolf Raiment - Zaruba to form the overlay network!" Charlie said as the vortex appeared in front of her and the three monsters turned into energy as they flew into it. "Say the Change!"

The monster that emerged from the swirling vortex resembled Garo at first glance. He had wolf-like armor but unlike Garo's, his armor was black and Silver as he wielded two swords (3000/2500).

"I Xyz summon, Wolf Knight - Zero!" Charlie said with a grin as her new monster let out a howl.

"It's still too weak to..." Jonas started to say.

"I'll get to your monster in a moment, first I equip Akaza with my Wolf Raiment - Brush," she said as the brush appeared in Akaza's hand. "Now, Zero attack his Buster Blader with Makai Dual Blades!"

Zero nodded and ran forward at the white and blue warrior. Jonas looked confused as Buster Blader swung his sword back and tried to catch Zero's with his own.

"What's the point you just..." he started to say before Buster Blader suddenly shattered. "What? How did you do that?"

"When Zero attacks a monster as long as he has at least one overlay unit the opposing monster is destroyed without entering damage calculation," Charlie said with a grin. "Which I'm afraid means your Buster Blader couldn't handle his attack."

"What? No... this can't end..." Jonas said as he looked around and spotted another action card in the ruins. "I'll get an Action card of my own!"

He ran off after it as Charlie nodded to Akaza. "Akaza, destroy his Evocator Chevalier with Sealing Slash!" She said as Akaza nodded and ran forward, using the brush to paint symbols in the air as he did.

"I activate the..." Jonas started to say when he grabbed the action spell and his eyes went wide when he realized it was a trap card. "What? What is..."

A fruit appeared in front of Evocator Chevalier and he grabbed it on instinct as he devoured it greedily. For a moment nothing happened and then a mass of vines appeared around him and he was replaced with a strange insect-like creature with a grey body (0/0).

"Sorry, that was the Action Trap card Devouring the Fruit," Charlie said with a sigh. "Which turns your monster into an Inves Token, and leaves you vulnerable."

"NO!" Jonas said as the sealing sigil struck the token and it exploded as he screamed and fell back onto the ground.

 **(C: 1) - (J: 0)**

The field around them vanished as Charlie for a moment reached for her gem before realizing she had no grounds to arrest him. She shook her head and nodded to the security guards that had apparently arrived during the duel as they went forward and took the dazed Jonas away.

"What even was that about?" The Xyz professor asked as the class went back over to Charlie.

"I'm not sure, I mean he didn't like me but that seemed weird..." Charlie said as she gathered up her cards and put them away.

"So, what's with the field?" Sasha asked curiously. "It seems kind of, you know, weird."

"Helheim is from a show called Kamen Rider Gaim, I still don't know how Leo Corporation got that worked out with Toei," Charlie said with a chuckle. "So, how about we get back to class?"

 **00000**

 _Samsara Dogma was used in Yu-Gi-Oh GX, creative credit goes to the writers there._

 **00000**

 _ **Wolf Priest - Akaza**_

 _ **4**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Spellcaster/Effect**_

 _ **1800/1300**_

 _ **When this card is normal summoned you can add one "Wolf Raiment" spell card from your deck to your hand. Every time a spell card is activated place one "Wolf Counter" on this card (Max: 2). When this card has two Wolf Counters, you can destroy it and the strongest monster on your opponent's field.**_

 _ **Wolf Knight - Kouga**_

 _ **4**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Warrior/Effect**_

 _ **1800/1400**_

 _ **When this card is normal summoned, you can add one "Wolf Raiment" card from your deck to your hand.**_

 _ **Legend of the Golden Knight**_

 _ **Continuous Spell**_

 _ **Image of drawings of a golden knight that resembles Wolf Knight - Garo. Once per turn when you have a face-up "Wolf Knight" monster on the field you can special summon one "Wolf Raiment" monster from your hand. You can only use monsters summoned by this effect to Xyz summon "Wolf Knight" monsters.**_

 _ **Wolf Raiment - Goten**_

 _ **2**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Warrior/Effect**_

 _ **300/1200**_

 _ **Once per turn this monster cannot be destroyed in battle. When this monster is used to Xyz Summon a "Wolf Knight" monster its level becomes 4.**_

 _ **Wolf Raiment - Garoken**_

 _ **Equip Spell**_

 _ **This card can only be equipped to "Wolf Knight - Kouga." A monster equipped with this card can attack twice in the same battle phase. When a monster equipped with this card is used as an Xyz material for a "Wolf Knight" monster, this card counts as a level 4 monster for an overlay unit.**_

 _ **Wolf Knight - Garo**_

 _ **4**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Warrior/Xyz/Effect**_

 _ **2800/2300**_

 _ **3 Level 4 "Wolf Knight," "Wolf Priest," or "Wolf Raiment" monsters.**_

 _ **During the end phase, you have to detach one overlay unit from this card. If this monster has no overlay units, its returned to the extra deck. When this monster has at least one Overlay Unit, all battle damage it deals is doubled.**_

 _ **Serpent's Temptation**_

 _ **Action Spell**_

 _ **Image of a serpent swirling around a man dressed in brown with his face barely visible. Draw 1 card when this card is activated. On any turn other than the turn this card was activated you can banish this card to banish one face-up card on your opponent's field and the monster with the highest ATK on your field.**_

 _ **Lockseed**_

 _ **Action Spell**_

 _ **Image of a young man with black hair dressed in a plaid shirt with an orange vest over it holding an orange shaped lock in his hand. This card can only be activated when one of your monsters is attacked. The monster cannot be destroyed by battle this turn and you can draw one card.**_

 _ **Wolf Priest - Jabi**_

 _ **4**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Spellcaster/Effect**_

 _ **When this monster is normal summoned you can add one "Wolf Raiment" spell card from your deck to your hand. When a spell card is activated place 1 "Wolf Counter" on this card (Max: 3). When this card has 3 Wolf Counters you can remove all of them to special summon one monster from your graveyard ignoring the summoning conditions. This effect can only be used once per duel.**_

 _ **Wolf Raiment - Brush**_

 _ **Equip Spell**_

 _ **This card can only be equipped to a "Wolf Priest" monster. A monster equipped with this card gains 400 ATK. Any monster destroyed in battle by a monster equipped with this card is returned to the deck instead of being sent to the graveyard.**_

 _ **Zedom Seeds**_

 _ **Counter Trap**_

 _ **This card can only be activated when your opponent attacks one of your monsters. Negate the attack and place one "Mado Counter" on the attacking monster. A monster with a "Mado Counter" on it loses 500 ATK in the controller's standby phase.**_

 _ **Overlord's Power**_

 _ **Action Spell**_

 _ **Image of a man in white standing over a city and holding a staff up as a vortex appears above him. Pay half your life points to activate this card. Discard cards from the top of your deck until you reach a spell or trap card or your opponent is out of monsters. For every monster you pick up, destroy one monster on your opponent's field. All cards drawn from this effect are sent to the graveyard.**_

 _ **The Forbidden Fruit**_

 _ **Action Spell**_

 _ **Image of a man in white robes with golden hair holding a golden lock in his hand as portals appear around him. This card can only be activated when you have no monsters on the field. Destroy all spell and trap cards you control and reduce your life points to 1. Special Summon as many monsters from your graveyard as you can. In your end phase, all your monsters are destroyed.**_

 _ **Wolf Raiment - Zaruba**_

 _ **1**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Warrior/Union/Effect**_

 _ **0/0**_

 _ **Once per turn you can equip this face-up monster to a face-up "Wolf Knight" monster on the field or special summon it from your spell/trap zone. When a monster equipped with this card would be destroyed you can destroy this card instead. When this monster is equipped to a face-up monster, once per turn you can look at the top 3 cards in either player's deck and return them in any order. When this monster is used to Xyz Summon a "Wolf Knight" monster it counts as level 4.**_

 _ **Wolf Knight - Zero**_

 _ **4**_

 _ **Light**_

 _ **Warrior/Xyz/Effect**_

 _ **3000/2500**_

 _ **During the end phase, you have to detach an overlay unit from this card. When this card has no overlay units its returned to your extra deck. When this monster attacks an opposing monster while it has at least one overlay unit, destroy the opposing monster without entering damage calculation.**_

 _ **Devouring the Fruit**_

 _ **Action Trap**_

 _ **Image of a human eating fruit in the Mysterious Forest of Helheim. When you pick this trap up it is automatically activated. The strongest monster on your field is destroyed and an Inves Token (4/Insect/0/0) is special summoned to your side of the field in attack mode. If you control no face-up monsters when you pick up this card, this card is sent to the graveyard.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Woohoo, finally done!**_

 _ **Okay, so admittedly this chapter is mostly filled with things that I enjoy more than anything else. But I highly recommend Kamen Rider Gaim, its one of the best shows I've ever seen with a lot of deep storytelling. Garo is, okay, but much more horror elements as I said. Really, just check out Kamen Rider in general if you never have.**_

 _ **Next chapter, Steven is following up on a tip from an underworld informant. However to get the full information he has to face off against the champion of a crime boss' underground dueling arena in "Sinister Serpent."**_

 _ **See you there.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Morgana's Kin Files:**_

 _ **The Inter-Dimensional Subway, Traveling Between the Universes.**_

 _ **Various Universes.**_

In many universes, there are stories of phantom trains that if you step aboard you will be whisked away and never seen again. Or maybe you'll vanish for years and when you return you'll be unaware of how long you've been gone. Some of these are merely stories, but Morgana's Kin has traced some of these to the Inter-Dimensional Subway.

As far as they can tell the subway has stations in most documented universes as well as others. It's unclear how many of them exist or how many routes are documented, but the subway will occasionally appear to pick up passengers seemingly at random.

However, the subway is not automated, as there are conductors and engineers running the trains as they move through realities. Those who have managed to leave these trains report them to be cordial as long as you don't attack them, in which case defenders will appear and usually attack with lethal force.

Morgana's Kin member Juniper Randall managed to enter one of these trains and traveled with it for a short time. She interacted with the train's conductor who she reported as being polite but were unwilling to answer any questions about the trains themselves. She eventually was let out in a universe unknown to Morgana's Kin, showing that the subway has no real restrictions on its routes.

There is speculation among scientists that the Subway serves a greater purpose of some sort. It may be part of an effort to map the multiverse, however, the motivation to do so is unknown.

 **Story Ideas:** The Inter-Dimensional Subway could theoretically appear in any story if the Shadowchasers get reports of missing people in the local Subways. The inhabitants of the Subway could potentially be convinced to bring them back to their home universe, but how successful that would be is unknown.

Alternatively, if a deal could be struck with the Subway it could be used to travel between realities if no other options are available. This is not advisable as there are always dangers to making deals with the Subway can always pose risks.

The subway could serve a greater purpose, however, and what that is is up to the writer.

 **Deck Ideas:** Juniper's report did say that the Conductor at least seemed to be familiar with Duel Monsters and used a Train Deck. However whether or not this is true for all Conductors is unknown.

As for other dwellers in the train, the sky is the limit. Machines may be the most likely, but don't discount anything else.


	8. Sinister Serpent

_Well not much to say here, other than we've got what I believe is one of the first appearances of one of my oldest contributions to Shadowchasers. Who is it? We'll see when we get there._

 _Disclaimer: I only own what things I created for this story._

 **00000**

 **0000000000**

 **CHAPTER 8:**

 **SINISTER SERPENT**

 **0000000000**

 **00000**

 _ **When you live in a city like Paradise City, sometimes its easy to forget that every city has its dark underbelly. There are always criminals hanging around, and crime bosses manipulating things from the shadows.**_

 _ **Shadowkind are no different, we've had to deal with a lot of Shadowkind Organized crime in the city. At the same time though we have made our fair share of contacts to help get information on the groups, though it usually doesn't seem to make much of a difference.**_

 _ **Now with everything that's going on with the potential of a group of Doomdreamers trying to free Tharizdun, everyone's being threatened. In times like this we often have to turn to those that may usual be our enemies to get information.**_

 _ **Even if we don't always like it.**_

 **00000**

"So, what's the weirdest universe you ever went to?" Eva asked curiously as she and Quin sat at the table in the Shadowchasers headquarters.

"Probably the one with magical talking ponies living in a Post-Apocalyptic world," Quin said thoughtfully and then chuckled a little. "Then again, all of those universes are weird now that I think about it."

"Wait, so there are actually My Little Pony based universes out there?" Eva asked as she blinked a little. "Like with Equestria and anything?"

"Why, are you a fan?" Quin asked with a chuckle.

"No, no, I mean its not really my thing, but I know people," Eva said as she took a sip of her coffee. "I just wasn't really sure how the multiverse worked is all."

"Well, there's some speculation really, and even we're not entirely sure," Quin said with a slight shrug. "One possibility is that when a piece of literature is created or something a new universe comes into existance. Or possibly a writer gets a sort of window into that universe to create the story."

"That sounds crazy," Eva said. "If Universes are created, then who created us?"

"I don't even want to think about it, probably someone with an odd sense of humor," Quin said with a chuckle. "Do you want to know anything else? Or are you going to tell me how your date with that cute elf went yesterday?"

"Oh you know, we almost talked and then had to deal with the characters from BioShock 2 showing up and dueling us," Eva said with a sigh. "I'm never going to actually be able to tell her am I?"

"Not if you keep that attitude up," Quin said with a shake of her head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"It's just, ever since I lost the last woman I felt like this about..." Eva said with a sigh. "It's not easy to tell someone I love the truth. I'm afraid that something will happen to her because of my job."

"Eva, you can't let your life be ruled by fear," Quin said with a soft sigh as she placed her hand on the older woman's shoulder. "I don't know what happened with your old girlfriend, but I do know that if you love Myra, you should do what you can to be with her as long as she feels the same way."

"I'm so used to being teased about it I forgot what actual good advice sounded like," Eva said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, well teasing was already taken so I thought I'd give you advice instead," Quin said with a chuckle. "So, where did everyone else go?"

"Well Charlie had her thing at the Leo Institute and Steven is meeting with an inforomant," Eva said. "I'm going to have to go out on patrol in a bit. As long as we don't have any concrete information on what's going on we can't really do much."

"Of course," Quin said with a soft smile. "I'll see what I can do to help out as well. Do you need someone to cook or anything maybe?"

"No, Alexia is our resident cook but she's been out of town for the past few days, she should be here tomorrow," Eva said with a shrug. "She's a Eoshee and was meeting with some friends of her's who were recently freed from the Unseelie. I saved her awhile back and she asked if she could work here."

"Ah, okay," Quin said with a nod. "So, what's the informant want to talk about?"

"Supposedly, possible information on the Doomdreamers," Eva said with a nod. "Given how big of a threat they are we can at least hope that we can get information even from those that don't normally give us information."

"Yeah, here's hoping," Quin said as she took another sip of her coffee.

 **00000**

The meeting Steven had with the informant had been relatively productive. The informant, a low level member of the local organized crime group, told him about a gathering that was going on as a gathering where someone from the Force of Nature Duel School supposedly was going to visit.

It took some doing to get him on the guest list, but that was how he found himself on a boat motoring out of Paradise City's harbor with some others. Apparently it was being held on a repurposed cruise ship called the _Chimera_. He eyed the still pristine white ship from a distance as the boat they were on neared it.

Why did that sound familiar? He felt like he had heard of the _Chimera_ somewhere before as the boat pulled up to the ship where a plank was lowered. They had to be out of territorial waters based on how long they had gone.

"Welcome aboard the _Chimera_ ," a Chinese woman greeted them as they walked onto the deck of the ship. "Mr. Shang welcomes you aboard. He hopes that you partake in the pleasures of his vessel before this evening's festivities begin."

Steven walked past the woman with the rest of the group as he eyed the Chinese woman for a moment. Unlike the others he could recognize the slight scales and reptilian look to the woman.

A Snakeblood, the plot thickened.

"I'm sorry, I'm new here, where can I see Mr. Shang?" Steven asked as he turned to speak to the Snakeblooded woman.

"Why, he in the upper floor of the theater on deck six's bow section," she said politely, he was sure that this was far from the first time she had been asked such a question. "Is there anything else I can do for you sir?"

"No, that's enough, thank you," Steven said as he adjusted the tie on the suit he had worn for the occasion. "I'll leave you to it then. Thank you for the information."

"You are very welcome," the woman said with a bow as Steven walked out of the room. The woman raised her hand and activated a radio which she spoke to in Chinese. "This is Mei, you are about to have company, sir."

 _"Police or..."_ A male chinese voice said on the other end.

"Shadowchaser, he pretended not to recognize what I am, but I saw his badge," Mei said. "What are your orders?"

 _"We'll have my men follow him, I want to see what his game is,"_ the male voice said. _"Continue with your duties."_

"Yes sir," Mei said as she looked back towards where a new boat was arriving. She put on a smile for the new guests aboard the _Chimera_.

 **00000**

The _Chimera's_ theater was a good sized room with a large stage on the far end. Steven made his way there, occasionally noticing men following him, he wasn't that surprised though given where he was.

He walked down to the front of the balcony, as music was playing from a small orchestra on the stage. He was a bit surprised, but he figured there was a reason behind it.

"Mr. Shang would like to speak to you," a voice said from behind him and he turned to see a pair of Orcs standing there with their arms crossed.

"Well, lead the way then, I'm here to speak with him anyway," Steven said, he reached for his duel disk just in case. He couldn't use his sword in this kind of place, but he could fight if needed.

"Come with us," the first Orc, the one who had talked, said as they lead Steven over to an elaborately designed seat where a man was seated along with several women.

The man at first glance was Chinese. He was dressed in fancy clothing and had short black hair that was sleaked back. His features however were just as reptillian and feral as the woman he had met belowdecks.

"Zaou Shang, I should have known," Steven said as he eyed the Chinese man. "And how did a chinese shipping magnate get a ship like this?"

Zaou Shang, usually just called Zaou, was one of the richest men in Asia behind men like Declan Akaba. The snakeblooded shipping magnate had holdings worldwide out of his offices in Hong Kong. He had a lot of clout in the Chinese government and in other nations around Asia.

At least that was what he was on the surface. There were more than a few rumors about Zaou being tied to organized crime, but he had eluded both the Shadowchasers and the Chinese Secret Police. There were more than a few rumors of him being tied to human trafficking and the notorious Snakeheads with backing from the government.

If Steven had evidence on Zaou he'd have arrested him right there, but this wasn't what he was here for.

"It's amazing what money can buy, like a failing Cruise Line that I can buy up cheap," Zaou said as he picked up his glass and took a drink. "I keep most of the ships afloat, and the _Chimera_ serves as my personal vessel when she isn't needed. So how about you tell me what a Shadowchaser is doing here."

"I'm looking for information on the Force of Nature Duel School," Steven said as Zaou gestured for him to take a seat. "We suspect that they may be tied to an attempt to free Tharizdun. I heard you might have information on them."

"I might, I might not," Zaou said as he glanced at Steven as he looked thoughtful for a long moment. "I will make a deal with you. If you duel my best duelist, then I will give you the information regardless of who wins. If what you're telling me is the truth, then it is certainly something we have to take seriously."

"And yet you still want to duel over it," Steven said with a frown.

"These people are here for entertainment, its a fair deal," Zaou said. "But if you want me to sweeten the deal, I'll offer you this. I believe you use a Red-Eyes deck do you not?"

He reached into his pocket and took out a card that he showed to Steven. Steven raised an eyebrow at that, he hadn't seen a card like that before.

"Red-Eyes Alternative Dragon?" He asked curiously. "I've never seen that before."

"Its fairly new, it hasn't even been released to the public yet" Zaou said as he put the card back away. "I recently came into posession of this card thanks to a friend of mine, through official channels of course. Red-Eyes is hardly my style however. If you win this duel I will give you this card in addition to the information, deal?"

Steven thought about that for a moment, he had read the text on the card. It was a pretty powerful monster and would help his deck a lot especially in the right situation. They needed this information and it seemed like it was the only way to get it from him.

"Alright, fine," Steven said as he reached into his pocket and took his duel disk out. "So who am I going to duel, you?"

"No, go down to the stage and your opponent will join you shortly," Zaou said as he leaned back and put his arms around the two women. "Good luck, you're going to need it."

Steven nodded as he headed for the stairs.

 **00000**

After awhile the crowd had started to gather in the seats as they waited for the duel to begin. He crossed his arms, his opponent wasn't here yet as everyone started to settle in.

"Well, I have to say I wasn't expecting you," a female voice said as the woman from before walked up onto the stage. She was dressed in a new red dress that showed off her cleavage and a duel disk on her arm. "When Zaou said that I had a new opponent I wasn't expecting the Shadowchaser."

"Uh, aren't you..." Steven said.

"Mei Chang," Mei said with a smile as she placed her hand on her hips. "I'm not just a pretty face you know. Zaou has me duel whenever he needs someone to either entertain his guests or other things."

"Yeah, that doesn't worry me at all," Steven said as he slid his deck into his duel disk. "And don't expect me to hold back."

"I wouldn't expect anything less out of a Shadowchaser," Mei said as she raised her disk and activated it as a disk with a red aura appeared. "Let's duel then."

 **(Steven: 8000) - (Mei: 8000)**

"Ladies first," Mei said as she drew her opening hand and looked her cards over.

 _Okay, she's a Snakeblood that might be tied to organized crime,_ Steven thought as he looked at his opening hand. _What kind of deck would she use?_

"I'll start with two cards face down," Mei said as she slid the two cards into her disk and two face down cards appeared in front of her. "And then I'll set one monster in defense mode."

A horizontal face down monster appeared in front of her as Mei crossed her arms. She gave Steven a smile as she adjusted the straps of her dress a little, exposing more of her cleavage.

 _Don't let her distract you Steven..._ Steven thought as she blushed a little from the Snakeblooded woman's display.

"I'll end my turn there," Mei finished with a smile. "Or would you rather drop the pretense already?"

"No, now it's my draw!" Steven said as he drew his next card and looked at it. It wasn't going to help him just yet, but he had other moves he could make. "I'll start with my Gearfried the Red-Eyes Iron Knight!"

A black armored warrior appeared in front of him with red gems encrusted into his armor (1800/1600).

"Gearfried, attack her face down monster with Metal Blade Slash!" Steven ordered as the knight nodded and ran forward as he brought his blade down on the face-down monster...

Only to be repelled by a large turtle who was drawn into its shell (0/2000).

"Sorry, my Reptilianne Gardna is a bit too strong for your Knight," Mei said with a smile as she gestured towards the turtle. "And this is just the first of my Reptilianne monsters, you'd better be careful."

 _Reptilianne monsters? I don't like the sound of that,_ Steven thoguht as he looked over his hand and selected a card that he slid into his disk. "I'll set one card face down and end my turn there."

 **(S: 7800) - (M: 8000)**

"My turn then," Mei said with a smile which showed her fangs as she drew her next card and looked at it with a grin. "And I summon my Reptilianne Gorgon!"

A serpentine monster appeared in front of here. This one had a long blue lower body and a blue-green face and arms. She was dressed in red and pink with long wild blue hair framed by two snakes (1400/1400).

"Okay, that's... odd," Steven said as he eyed the strange monster for a moment. "You realize she's not nearly strong enough to defeat Gearfried right?"

"No, she isn't, but you'll find that doesn't matter," Mei said with a grin. "Gorgon, attack his Gearfried with piercing gaze!"

The Gorgon's eyes glowed as she shot beams of light at Gearfried who just stopped them with his shield and then ran forward and slashed at her. However Gorgon just slithered back from the slash and Gearfried let out a cry as he turned to stone, his attack falling to 0.

"What how did..." Steven said.

"When my Gorgon attacks, the targetted monster loses all its attack points after damage calculation," Mei said as Gorgon's attack rose to 1700. "And as to how she survived, my Molting Escape protects the equipped Reptile and increases her attack by 300 each time she survives an attack."

 _Okay, that's really not good,_ Steven thought as he looked over his hand. He hadn't even heard of these Reptilliane cards before and they were giving him trouble already.

"That's it for my turn handsome," Mei said with a seductive smile. "Let's see what you can pull off this time. Oh, and bad news, your Gearfried can't be switched to defense mode."

 **(S: 7800) - (M: 7600)**

"My turn then," Steven said as he drew his next card and glanced at the trap card he had drawn. There wasn't a lot he could do, if he attacked then since it would just make his monster stronger so he slid the card into his disk. "I'll set one card face down and sacrifice Gearfried to set a monster in defense mode."

Gearfried vanished and was replaced with a horizontal card in front of him as he looked his hand over for a moment. There wasn't anything else he could do at the moment as he glanced at the audience for a moment.

"Well? What else are you going to do?" Mei asked.

"I can't do anything else, I end my turn," Steven finished.

"Then I'll draw," Mei said as she drew her next card and set it on the disk. "I'll start with another monster in defense mode. And then I'll activate my spell card Reptilianne Poison!"

 _Another Reptilianne card? Great..._ Steven thought.

"This spell can only be used when I have a Reptilianne monster on the field and you have a monster in defense mode," Mei said with a toothy grin. "This forces your monster into attack mode and lowers its attack to 0."

"Great..." Steven said as his face-down monster flipped up. It was red and resembled a dragon crossed with a meteor as it let out a pained roar as Gorgon sank her fangs into its neck and its attack fell to 0. "How many cards do you have that can reduce my monster's attack to 0?"

"Most of my cards do," Mei said with a grin as she crossed her arms. "And the others have effects that take advantage of your weakened monsters. But that's for later, for now I'll attack your Meteor Dragon with my Gorgon, percing gaze!"

"Go trap card, Scrap-Iron Scarecrow!" Steven countered as a metal scarecrow appeared in front of the dragon and absorbed the attack before appearing face-down again. "I'm not going to let you deal damage that easily."

"Clever," Mei said with a frown as she shook her head. "Well, then I'm going to end my turn there, not like I can do anything else right now."

 _Come on deck, I need a winner..._ Steven thought as he drew his next card and flinched, this wasn't going to help either. At least not yet, he sighed a little and set it on the disk and a face down monster appeared in front of him.

"Still nothing you can do huh?" Mei asked with a smirk.

"I'll switch my Meteor Dragon to defense mode..." Steven said as the dragon knelt down in defense mode. "And end my turn there."

 _At least my life points should be safe now,_ he thought.

Mei drew her next card with no comment and nodded as she looked at it. "I activate the spell card Reptilianne Gift, to use this card I have to destroy one monster with 0 attack points and then I get to draw two cards."

"Wait, what?" Steven asked. "You're going to destroy my dragon aren't you?"

"Don't be silly, I have other ways to benefit from this, since Gardna was destroyed I can add one Reptilianne to my hand when Gardna is destroyed," Mei said as she gestured to the large turtle who shattered as Mei picked up two more cards from her deck and pulled a third card from her deck. "In return I can't normal or special summon any monsters this turn."

 _Great... she's up to something,_ Steven thought.

"And I'll activate the two spell cards I just drew, first Savage Colosseum!" Mei said as a colosseum formed around them with spectators. "And then Attack Pheromones."

A roar went up from the crowd as Gorgon started glowing brightly and bared her fangs at the Dragon. Mei laughed as she pointed at the Meteor Dragon.

"Reptilianne Gorgon, attack his Meteor Dragon Red-Eyes Impact with piercing gaze!" Mei said as the snake woman's eyes glowed. All of a sudden the Dragon moved up into attack position and roared only to turn to stone and shatter.

"What? He was in defense mode," Steven said confused.

"That's the power of Attack Pheromones, it forces your monster into attack mode because I attacked with a Reptile," Mei grinned as energy flowed into her. "And on top of that, my field spell gives me 300 more life points. And that's all for my turn."

 **(S: 6100) - (M: 7900)**

 **00000**

"Do you ever miss your home?" Eva asked and Quin looked up in thought for a long moment.

"Sometimes," Quin admitted with a sigh. "It's not like I can't ever go back, it's just I'm afraid to go back giving everything that's going on there. I do miss my friends though, life in Morgana's Kin isn't easy."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Eva said with a sigh. "So what's the Origin Universe like? I mean we've all heard the rumors about things like the massive Galaxy spanning library of the gods and other things, but not much else."

"Oh yes, the Libras Galaxy," Quin said with a chuckle. "Yeah it's true. Don't ask me how a galaxy gets turned into a massive library, its really a relatively small galaxy but it sounds more dramatic when you say that. How it works is complicated as its separated into different sections depending on what is needed."

"Ah, I see," Eva said with a chuckle. "I know a few people who'd give anything to get access to that place."

"Oh believe me we know," Quin laughed. "They rarely make it given all our wards and security system. I seem to recall an Aboleth once promised an Ophidia Monitor access to it, but whether or not he'd have succeded if she had kept her end of the bargain is another question entirely. Ironic really, she later wound up helping us with a matter."

"You're an interesting bunch, that's for sure," Eva said. "Though I have to ask you something..."

"Why is an organization that can travel the multiverse interested in a planetary international police agency like the Shadowchasers?" Quin asked and Eva nodded. "The simple answer, you attracted the attention of a notable member of the organization in Morgan St. Claire thanks to the no small feat of defeating Atropus. There are, bigger reasons of course, but I am not entirely at liberty to share them."

"Why not?"

"Have you ever heard of the Kardashev Scale?"

"That's the scale that determines what level of advancement a civilization is at, right?" Eva asked.

"Right, you're at about a 0.73, maybe a bit higher, we've never quite ranked ourselves but we're likely around 5.04, in other words a very advanced civilization," Quin said with a sigh. "But here's the thing, there are things in this reality that are documented in only a few others and rarely in this great a scale. We're explorers, we want to know more about the multiverse, it's why we left. This world is something special, and there are mutual benefits to the agreement. Because despite the difference between our civilization levels, we have a lot in common, and there are things that we simply cannot do or learn on our own."

"I see," Eva said as she looked at Quin. "You have no idea either do you?

Quin actually laughed a little at that. "No honestly the reasons are mostly only known to the High Council and Jalal and Judy. I just didn't want to sound like I didn't know either."

"Yeah, that makes me feel so much better," Eva said sarcastically. "But at least you're as much in the dark as I am."

"Trust me though Eva, there is a reason," Quin said with a smile. "And this has benefitted both our organizations over the past 500 years. I'm not sure what else we could ask for."

"Yeah... anyway I should get on my patrol," Eva said as she got up and reached for her helmet. "No throwing wild parties and inviting Bacchus or something, got it?"

"Don't be silly, Bacchus is in Interdimensional Rehab, he can't come to parties," Quin said with a laugh. "Though I could probably call up some other gods if they're not busy with something."

"I can't tell if you're kidding or not," Eva said with a groan as she grabbed her helmet and headed out of the headquarters.

 **00000**

"My draw," Steven said as he drew his next card and smiled a little before he took another card and slid it into his disk. "I'll activate my Cards of the Red Stone, which lets me discard the monster I just drew in order to draw two more cards."

He held up a card that was revealed to be a copy of Red-Eyes Black Dragon and slid it into his graveyard before he drew two more cards and added them to his hand.

"And then I can take one level 7 Red-Eyes monster from my deck and send it to the graveyard," he added as he took another card out of his deck and slid it into his graveyard.

"So you've got two of your Dragons in the graveyard, what's the point?" Mei asked as she crossed her arms a little. "My monster still can't be destroyed as long as she has her equip spell."

"We'll see about that," Steven said as he pointed at his other face-down card and it flipped up to reveal a familiar black dragon surrounded by a golden aura. "I activate my trap card Red-Eyes Spirits, this lets me bring back one of my Red-Eyes monsters. So I'll use it to bring back the Red-Eyes Black Dragon I just discarded."

There was a loud roar as a black dragon with red-eyes appeared breathing fire (2400/2000). Steven actually smiled a little as the gasp went up from the crowd, Red-Eyes wasn't a common monster and if he was stuck putting on this show for them he was going to make sure it was a good one.

"Now, to deal with your equip spell I play Stamping Destruction!" Steven continued as Red-Eyes' clawed foot slammed down on the Gorgon and the glow vanished as the Gorgon's attack fell back to 1400. "Which means your Gorgon no longer has her protection!"

"Clever... but that's not going to be enough," Mei said. "You may be able to destroy my Gorgon, but I'm still going to be fine. What are you going to do now?"

"I'll summon my Red-Eyes Wyvern next," Steven continued as a smaller version of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared in front of him (1800/1600). "Now, Red-Eyes Black Dragon take out Reptilianne Gorgon with Inferno Fire Blast!"

Red-Eyes roared as it breathed fire on the Gorgon who screamed as she shattered into tiny pieces. Energy flowed from the colosseum down into Steven as his life points went up.

"Your field doesn't pick favorites I see," Steven said

"No but I can activate my trap card Snake Whistle and summon another reptile from my deck like my Reptilianne Scylla," Mei said as her trap flipped up.

A new monster appeared, this one was hidious with the upper body of a woman with wild red hair and dark skin. The lower body was made up of some hidious reptilian creature with several mouths coming out of it (1800/1200).

"Eh, I've seen worse," Steven said as he pointed at Red-Eyes Wyvern. "Wyvern, attack her face down monster!"

The smaller dragon breathed fire on the face down monster which was revealed to be a young girl with a snake's lower body and a snake head coming out of her head (0/0). She however survived the attack and just smiled.

"Sorry, Reptilianne Naga can't be destroyed by Battle, and your monster losese all its attack points," Mei said with a laugh as the Wyern's attack fell to 0. "Is there anything else you'd like to do."

"No, that's alll," Steven said as he looked over his hand for a moment. "Make your move then."

 **(S: 6700) - (M: 6400)**

Mei drew her next card and nodded a little as she slid the card into her disk. "I activate Spellbooks Inside the Pot, which let's us both draw three cards," she said as she drew three cards from her deck.

 _Odd that she'd give me three cards, but I'm sure she has her reasons,_ Steven thought as he drew his next three cards.

"And I'll activate my second copy of Reptilianne Poison, which I'll use on your face down monster," Mei said with a grin as the face-down monster flipped face-up to reveal a small dragon who's attack fell to 0. "Red-Eyes Baby Dragon, huh? Well, that's going to be trouble, I better deal with that."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Steven asked. "If you attack my monster it'll just activate his effect."

"True, but I can get around that with the right monster, and I'll start with Reptilianne Viper," Mei said as a green serpent-like creature appeared in front of her, though unlike normal snakes it had two arms (0/0). "And when it's normal summoned I can take control of one of your monsters with 0 attack points like your Wyvern."

She grinned a little as the serpent slithered over to the smaller dragon and lured it back over to her side of the field.

"And now, I can bring my two monsters together!" Mei continued as Steven's eyes went wide as the two monsters flew into the air. The Viper turned into stars and flew into Wyvern's body.. _"Deadly multi-headed beast rise from the sea and bring Hell down on your foes!_ "

 **(2* + 4* = 6*)**

"I Synchro summon, Reptilianne Hydra!" Mei said and a hideous vaguely humanoid monster with 5 heads on long necks and what resembled a dress (2100/1500). "And here's how her effect works, I can destroy all your face-up zero attack point monsters and draw one card for each one!"

The Hydra roared loudly and grabbed he dragon with its hands and tore it apart as Mei drew another card.

"And now I'll equip Hydra wtih the Reptilianne Rage spell card which increases its attack by 800," Mei added as Hydra's attack raise to 2900.

 _Okay, I forgot about Scrap-Iron Scarecrow before, but I'm not about to forget this time,_ Steven thought.

"I'll activate the spell card Mystical Space Typhoon to get rid of your Scarecrow," Mei said as a gust of wind struck the card and blew it away. "Now Hydra, take out Red-Eyes Black Dragon with tail swipe!"

The Hydra swung its tail around and struck the large dragon and shattered it as energy flowed from the colosseum and into her.

"And Scylla will attack you directly to finish my turn!" Mei said as Scylla slithered forward and struck Steven as he fell back onto the stage as more energy flew into Mei.

 **(S: 4400) - (M: 7000)**

"Alright, my turn then," Steven said as he drew his next card and grinned a little. He had a plan now, it was just a matter of timing it just right. "I'll start with one card face down and then activate my ritual spell Red-Eyes Transmigration!"

"A ritual spell?" Mei asked curiously. "You don't see a whole lot of those these days."

"True, but this one is pretty useful, and I can banish these two monsters from my graveyard to use it," Steven said as two cards slid out of his graveyard and flames started to appear around him. "Which lets me special summon a pretty powerful monster in this deck, my Lord of the Red!"

The flames flowed into his body as metal armor started to form over him. It was black and resembled the basic design of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon as its wings spread out behind him. He grinned as he stepped forward, the armor's claws glinting in the lights as a cheer went up from the crowd (2400/2100).

"An armor card, interesting," Mei said as she eyed him curiously. "That armor looks good on you Steven, your dragon deck is certainly impressive."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Steven said as he raised his armored hand. "I'll start by taking out your Scylla!"

He ran forward as his claws glowed with fire and slashed through the hideous reptilian monster as it shattered.

"I activate my trap card, Damage = Reptile!" Mei countered as her trap flipped up. "This let's me special summon a reptile monster from my deck as long as it's attack points are equal to or less than the damage I just took. So, I'll summon my second Reptilianne Gardna!"

The strange looking turtle appeared in front of her and pulled itself into its shell like the first one (0/2000).

"A big mistake," Steven said as his claws began to glow again and he swung around and slashed through Reptilianne Naga who cried out and shattered.

"What? How did you not trigger her effect?" Mei asked.

"Because that wasn't an attack," Steven said as he returned to his side of the field. "Once per turn, whenever an effect is activated I can destroy one of your cards."

"Clever..." Mei said as she looked at the last card in her hand for a moment. "Is there anything else?"

"Just one thing," Steven said as he reached into his graveyard slot and took a card out. "Since I didn't normal summon or set this turn I can banish my Wyvern to bring back my Red-Eyes Black Dragon."

The large black dragon appeared with a roar as he breathed fire into the air around him.

"And I'll end my turn there," Steven finished as he crossed his arms. All he had to do was activate his face down card and he'd have the edge here, he just had to hope that it would work.

 **(S: 4700) - (M: 6400)**

Mei drew her next card and looked at it curiously for a moment before she smiled. _This card will do nicely, I just have to wait until the right moment, in the meantime I'm going to take that armor out and hope he doesn't have a plan,_ she thought as she slid it into the disk. "I'll set one card face down to start things off."

 _I don't like the look on her face,_ Steven thought as he eyed the face down card. _What's she got planned?_

"Now, Reptilianne Hydra, attack his Lord of the Red with Tail Swipe!" Mei ordered as the Hydra swung its tail right at Steven.

"Go trap card, Red-Eyes Fang With Chain!" Steven countered as a chain flew out of the trap card and wrapped around Red-Eyes Black Dragon's claw. "Which of course activates the effect of Lord of the Red!"

 _Crap..._ Mei thought.

"And I'll take out your Hydra!" Steven continued as he ran forward and slashed through the Hydra which shattered. "Is there anything else you're going to do?"

"No, but you activated Rage's effect, which decreases your armor's attack points by 800," Mei said with a grin as energy flowed into the armor.

"Great..." Steven said as the attack fell to 1600.

"And I'll end my turn there," Mei finished simply as she glanced at her face down card. It was just a matter of making sure that it was the right time to use this card.

 **(S: 4700) - (M: 6700)**

"Alright, then it's my turn," Steven said as he drew his next card. "And I'll summon my Red-Eyes Retro Dragon!"

The dragon that appeared vaguely looked like the Red-Eyes Black Dragon only it was more red than black. It spread its wings out and roared as it breathed fire into the air around it (1700/1000).

"Go trap card, Offering to the Snake Deity!" Mei countered as her trap flipped up and Reptilianne Gardna started to glow. "This is going to cost me some life points sure, but this trap card let's me destroy three monsters as long as one of them is my own!"

Energy flowed out of the turtle and ensnared Steven and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Red-Eyes roared loudly as he shattered followed by Reptilianne Gardna and the armor around Steven.

"And as you might recall, that lets me add one Reptilianne monster to my hand," she continued with a wicked grin as she added a card from her deck to her hand.

"Fine, but I still have one monster left," Steven said as he pointed at Red-Eyes Retro Dragon. "Retro Dragon, attack her directly with Retro Fire Blast!"

The smaller dragon roared as it breathed fire on Mei, scorching her a little as she tried to cover her face.

"I'll end my turn there," Steven finished as he looked at Mei. That had tied the score thanks to the field spell, so now it was just a matter of seeing who got the advantage.

 **(S: 5000) - (M: 5000)**

"Then I draw," Mei said as she drew her next card and grinned a little. "I activate the spell card Reptilianne Spawn, by banishing one of my Reptilianne monsters I can summon two tokens to the field."

She took a card out of her slot and slid it into her cleavage with a seductive smile. Then two small serpents appeared in front of her as she adjusted the cards in her hand for a moment (0/0 x2).

"Now, the next monster I have can only be special summoned by sacrificing any two zero attack monsters on the field," Mei continued as the two tokens hissed loudly before vanishing. "So I'll summon my Reptilianne Vaskii!"

There was further hissing as a new monster appeared. This one resembled a Hindu Goddess with four arms and the lower body of a snake. She was dressed in an elaborate blue and gold outfit with a headdress that had a cobra coming out of it. She smiled as she took out a lotus and took a deep sniff from it (2600/0).

 _Okay, that's not good but nothing I can't handle,_ Steven thought with a slight gulp as he eyed the strange snake woman.

"And Vaskii has a powerful effect of her own, I can destroy one of your face-up monsters like your Retro Dragon," Mei laughed as the snake woman blew into the lotus and the pedals swirled around and impacted the dragon shattering it.

"What do you think of that?" Mei said with a laugh. "And she can still attack too, so Reptilianne Vaskii, attack him directly with Strike of the Serpent Goddess!"

Vaskii hissed loudly as swords appeared in her hands and she slithered forward and slashed at Steven with her four swords. He fell back as the snake woman laughed with a hiss as she slithered back to Mei's side of the field as energy flowed into her.

"Not bad..." Steven said as he pulled himself to his feet again. "I have to admit your Reptilianne monsters are really powerful. But this duel is far from over."

"Oh, I wouldn't expect otherwise," Mei said with a giggle. "I can't wait to see what your dragons have for me next. I'll end my turn there and turn things over to you."

 **(S: 2400) - (M: 5300)**

"My turn then," Steven said as he drew his next card and slid it into his disk. "I'll activate the spell card Allure of Darkness, this let's me draw two cards as long as I banish one dark monster from my hand afterwords."

"I know how the card works," Mei said. "I have a copy of it myself."

"Then let's see how I fare," Steven said as he drew two cards quickly and looked them over for a moment before pocketing one of the cards in his hand. "I'll set one monster in defense mode and set one card face down and that's all."

The two cards appeared in front of him. He glanced back at the crowd who was starting to look a bit bored, he just had to hope this was going to be enough. If she drew a card to get rid of his face down card he would be in big trouble.

If this worked, he might have a chance though.

"Alright, my draw then," Mei said as she drew another card and then slid it into her disk. "I activate my Dark World Dealings spell card, so we can both draw one card and discard another."

"Fine," Steven said as he drew a card and glanced at the other cards in his hand before he selected one and slid it into his graveyard and Mei did the same. _That should help next turn at least._

"Now, Vaskii attack his face down monster!" Mei said with a wicked grin as Vaskii's swords appeared in her hands again and she slithered forward and slashed at the face down card.

"Go trap card, Malevolent Catastrophe!" Steven countered as his trap flipped up and horrifying winds picked up around them as the Colosseum and Mei's other cards shattered. "So your spell card isn't going to be able to cause damage to me this time!"

"Fine, but I can still continue the attack!" Mei said as Vaskii slashed through the face down monster which was revealed to be another Red-Eyes Baby Dragon.

"And you know what that means, I'll summon another Red-Eyes Black Flare Dragon from my deck equipped with Baby Dragon," Steven said as the black dragon appeared again with a roar (2400/2000 + 300).

"Big mistake," Mei said. "I'll move into my second standby phase and destroy your dragon with Vaskii's effect."

Vaskii's lotus blossoms swirled around and Red-Eyes shattered as Steven covered his eyes.

"And I get a level 1 Dragon from my deck," Steven said as he took a card out of his deck and added it to his hand.

"And I'll end my turn there," she finished with a smile as she adjusted her dress again to show more cleavage. "You're such a handsome young man, perhaps we should retire to my quarters after this."

"No, I don't think I'll do that, you're not exactly my type," Steven said as he drew his next card and smiled a little as he slid it into his disk as a face down card appeared in front of him. "I'll set this card face down and activate the effect of the card I discarded with your spell card, my Dark Dragon Ritual. This let's me add one Red-Eyes spell or trap card to my hand."

He took the card out of his disk and put it in his pocket before he took a card from his deck and added it to his hand.

"And what card would that be, handsome?" Mei asked with a grin.

"I activate my spell card, Red-Eyes Fusion!" Steven said as the blazing vortex appeared above him. He took two cards from his deck and held them up. "By sending my Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Summoned Skull to the graveyard I can fusion summon one of my best monsters."

The black dragon and the skeletal fiend appeared behind him and flew into the vortex.

 _"Dragon of the inferno and skeleton summoned from the underworld, when the two come together they unleash a true Infernal fury!"_ Steven said as the two swirled together and a massive Red dragon with skeletal features appeared in front of him as it roared loudly, breathing fire into the air (3200/2500). "I Fusion Summon, Archfiend Black Skull Dragon!"

"That's, really not good," Mei said as she took a step back.

"Oh you have no idea, Archfiend Black Skull Dragon attack Reptilianne Vaskii with Molten Inferno Fireballs!" Steven said as the fiendish dragon sent several fireballs at the snake woman who cried out as she shattered. "And now I get to shuffle one Red-Eyes monster back into my deck and you lose life points equal to its attack points."

He took one of his Red-Eyes cards out of his graveyard and shuffled it back into his deck as the dragon sent more fireballs at Mei who cried out.

"And I'll end my turn there," Steven finished.

 **(S: 2400) - (M: 2300)**

"Not bad, but it's my turn," Mei said as she drew her next card and laughed. "This is perfect, by banishing all the Reptiles in my graveyard I can special summon this monster from my hand..."

 _Oh crap, this is one card I definitely know,_ Steven said as his eyes went wide. A massive Hydra-like creature appeared in front of Mei with roars coming from all of its heads (3600/3600).

"Welcome to the field, my Evil Dragon Ananta!" She said with a laugh as she slid a card into her disk and a glow appeared around the hydra. "And I'll give it another copy of Reptilianne Rage to give it 800 more attack points. Now Ananta, attack his Archfiend Black Skull Dragon!"

The hyda roared as it sent bursts of fire at the demonic dragon. Steven quickly activated his face down card and a shield appeared around him.

"I activate my Defense Draw," Steven said as he drew his next card and blinked a little in surprise when he saw it. "This keeps me from taking damage from that attack."

"Not bad, I end my turn which unfortunately means I have to destroy one card on the field so I'll destroy my equip spell," Mei said with a sigh as the glow vanished from around Ananta.

Steven drew his next card and flinched. This wasn't going to help right now, he sighed and set it on his disk. "I'll set this monster in defense mode and end my turn," he said, hoping that she wouldn't draw something to destroy it.

Mei drew her next card and frowned as she slid it into her disk and it appeared in front of her. "I'll set this card face down and attack your face down monster with Ananta!" she said as the massive dragon sent fire down on the face down monster to reveal a small metallic dragon. "And I'll end my turn there, so I have to destroy the card I just set."

The face down card shattered as Ananta smiled wickedly with all its heads.

"Let's see what you've got now, but there's not much in a Red-Eyes deck that can stand up to Ananta," Mei said with a grin.

 _I've got one, but I have to draw it first,_ Steven thought as he reached for his deck and slowly drew the next card before his eyes went wide. "Alright, first, I summon my Black Stone of Legend!"

A black stone appeared in front of him, cracks appeared in it with a red glow coming out of it (0/0).

"And I get its effect, by sacrificing it I can special summon my Red-Eyes Black Dragon from my deck!" Steven said as the stone cracked open and the large black dragon with the red eyes appeared with a loud roar.

"That's still..." Mei started to say.

"That's about to change, I sacrifice my Red-Eyes to bring out my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!" Steven said as the dragon was consumed by fire.

A new monster appeared above him, it looked similar to the Red-Eyes at first glance but it was larger and more intimidating looking. It spread its wings out, revealing red markings on it as it roared loudly (2400/2000).

"Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon may be an old card, but in the right situation it can work great, and it gains 300 attack for every dragon in my graveyard," Steven said with a grin as the large dragon's attack rose to 6000. "Now, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, attack Ananta with Darkfire Inferno!"

The dragon roared as it breathed fire on the hydra-like monster. The fire was colored black as it swirled around Ananta and it shattered, sending Mei back onto the ground.

 **(S: 2400) - (M: 0)**

Mei laughed as she got to her feet and walked over to Steven. "Not bad, you're quite the duelist," she said as she slipped something into his hand before she walked off.

"Looks like you've got an admirerer," Zaou said as he walked onto the stage.

"Yeah... not sure how I feel about that," Steven said with a shake of his head as he looked at the paper which had her phone number on it. "You employ interesting people. So, we had a deal?"

"Of course," Zaou said as he gestured. "Come back to my table and we'll discuss it."

Steven nodded as he followed the businessman back to the table.

 **00000**

In an unknown location, Silas, Ophelia, and Sayako walked into a room where Raum was seated. The elderly demon opened his eyes as they walked in and looked at them.

"You said you had something for us?" Silas asked as he eyed Raum.

"Indeed," Raum said as he opened a bag and took a binder out as he handed it to him. "These may be useful for your operations in Paradise City."

"Yes, well you have been of..." Steven started to say as he opened the binder up and blinked in confusion as he looked at them. "What is this, a joke? These cards vanished from Chicago with Marcus Hape."

"Wait, what?" Ophelia asked as she grabbed the binder and flipped through them. Indeed, these were the infamous Dark Forge cards that had been used by their counterparts in Chicago, but how did Raum have them? "You have a lot to answer for, Raum, where did you get these cards?"

"A better question is where did Hape get them from," Raum said with a wheezing laugh. "He told your counterparts that he was only holding them, they were something I loaned him because it would weaken Tharizdun's prison."

"Wow, this could be handy," Sayako said as she picked one of the cards out and held it up. "Hmm, Chaos Gear... sounds like something that would be my style."

"Yes, but the Shadowchasers already know about these cards," Silas pointed out. "We cannot just give them to anyone after all. We have to be very careful with them."

"You're right of course," Raum said as he shrugged. "Perhaps there are ways to delay that however. There are cards in there that were never quite used in Chicago, that may divert their attention for the moment."

"We could test them at least," Ophelia suggested. "I'm sure we could find someone not directly connected to the School who would be willing to use one."

"Hmm... perhaps," Silas said thoughtfully for a moment. "And there is still the matter of Quin Lamont. Perhaps we should see if we can kill two birds with one stone."

"Indeed," Raum said with a nod. "Well, I believe you have everything you need for now. I will speak with you again shortly."

"Hold on, how long until the ritual is complete?" Sayako asked.

"You're going to have to be patient, Doomdreamer," Raum said. "This is a ritual that cannot be rushed unlike many of your more, supurfluous rites. The ritual will be done when it is done. When you await the Dark God's arrival for as long as I have, you learn patience."

"Of course," Silas said as he shot Sayako a look.

"And of course you still have yet to find another Champion," Raum continued.

"Yes, well we're looking into finding more in the Four Dimensions," Silas said. "It's not easy, especially not in Fusion. We will keep you appraised."

Raum nodded as the three Doomdreamers walked out. He returned to his position quietly, preparing for what was to come next.

 **00000**

 _ **Reptilianne Gift**_

 _ **Normal Spell**_

 _ **Image of Reptilianne Vaskii being given gold and jewels by an unknown figure. Target one monster with 0 ATK on your side of the field and send it to the graveyard and draw two cards.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Well, at least this chapter didn't take too long. This is also my first real attempt at using a Reptilianne deck, hopefully I didn't mess it up too badly.**_

 _ **Next chapter, we learn exactly what Zaou had to tell Steven and at the same time Quin is challenged by a duelist who holds a dark power in his deck. Can she overcome this opponent and their dangerous deck? Find out next time in, "Soul Devouring Bamboo Sword."**_

 _ **See you then.**_

 **00000**

 _ **Morgana's Kin Files:**_

 _ **Meritha, the Serpent from Shadow.**_

 _ **Origin Universe.**_

Ever since Morgana's Kin first made contact with the Shadowchasers they have been making an effort to study the method by which Shadowkind are transplanted to Earth. While they have uncovered many secrets, including reaching the homeworld of Shadow, they have no more understanding of the force behind this than the Shadowchasers do.

However they have many members studying it, and one such member is an Ophidia named Meritha. Many are surprised to learn that there is an Ophidia in Morgana's Kin, and likely more would be surprised to learn of her origins, she is not an arrival on Earth, instead she is an anomaly, she is the only recorded case of a Shadow arriving in the Origin Universe.

Exactly why Meritha came to the Origin Universe instead of the normal universe is unknown. Some have speculated that given it coincided with a scouting mission to the homeworld of Shadow that may have affected the force that transplants Shadow. Finding herself in an alien world, Meritha slowly adapted to her new reality and eventually surprised the leadership by requesting to join Morgana's Kin.

Since her arrival, Meritha has taken part in a lot of research projects to study the Homeworld and Shadowkind. She also is often used as an intermediary with Ophidia clans on the Homeworld and in other realities.

However things truly came to a head when an Ophidia clan from Earth under the leadership of an Abomination named Vetirian managed to escape Earth to another reality where Shadows were unknown and no Shadowchasers existed. Meritha started to put together a plan, but she knew that she needed to know more about how Ophidia from Earth thought, so she turned to an unlikely resource, Taramanda's former Monitor Magdalene.

It took some negotiating with Jalal and Leslie Garrett, who was still the representative at the time, but Meritha managed to secure a meeting with Magdalene in the Shadowchaser's prison. After some time she managed to convinced Magdalene to help her deal with Vetirian, but from there an unlikely friendship was born between the two snakes.

Even after Vetirian's defeat, Meritha continued to visit with Magdalene and the two Ophidia discussed everything from the nature of their species to the Homeworld of Shadow. While the former Monitor likely had started this out of a desire to get access to the Origin Universe's library, she had to admit the other Ophidia had a surprisingly good influence on her.

These days Meritha is continuing her research into the Homeworld of Shadow. She has her concerns about Magdalene's past and motivations sure, but that hasn't stopped her from maintaining a relationship with the Ophidia.

What will happen next? Time will only tell.

Meritha is a fairly average female Ophidia with the markings of a Black Mamba. As a result she has darker skin than your average Ophidia and has the lower body of a serpent while her upper body resembles a normal human woman with short silver hair.

 **Story Ideas:** Meritha is a good addition to any story that wants to focus on either Ophidia or the Homeworld of Shadow. She has no loyalty to Seghulerak, and more often than not opposes any of her followers when she has the chance. Being a Homeworld researcher she has obvious connections there as well.

Any story involving her will likely also involve Magdalene in some capacity. Whether or not the friendship between the two is actually genuine or the former Monitor is only using Meritha is up in the air. Regardless, Magdalene is a good source of information that Meritha has utilized in the past when dealing with Ophidia clans and likely could be used as such here.

In the event that she is used in the Arc-V timeline, a lot of this will still hold true, though the contact with Magdalene would be through the Synchro Dimension not the Standard.

 **Deck:** Meritha, like many members of Morgana's Kin is perfectly capable of dueling when she needs to. She is sometimes known to switch decks when needed, but she tends to favor a Serpent Knight deck.


End file.
